Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) is an American electronic commerce company based in Seattle, Washington. It was one of the first major companies to sell goods over the Internet. Amazon also owns Alexa Internet, A9.com, and the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).

Founded as Cadabra.com by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and launched in 1995, Amazon.com began as an online bookstore, though it soon diversified its product lines, adding DVDs, music CDs, computer software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, and more.

Amazon offers web services for access to its catalog as well as for integration with retailers like Target and Marks & Spencer. A9.com provides search engine services directly on the Amazon.com site.

Background on Amazon.com

The company began as an online bookstore. Founder Bezos saw the potential of the Internet; while the largest brick-and-mortar bookstores might offer 200,000 titles, an online bookstore could offer many times more. Bezos renamed his company "Amazon" after the world's most voluminous river. The company was incorporated in 1994 in the state of Washington, began service in July 1995, and was reincorporated in 1996 in Delaware. Amazon.com had its initial public offering on May 15, 1997, trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol AMZN at an IPO price of $18.00 per share (equivalent to $1.50 after three stock splits during the late 1990s).

Amazon's initial business plan was unusual: the company did not expect to turn a profit for four to five years. In retrospect, the strategy was sound. Amazon grew at a steady pace in the late 1990s while many other Internet companies grew at a blindingly fast pace. Amazon's "slow" growth caused a number of its stockholders to complain, saying that the company was not reaching profitability fast enough. When the Internet "bubble" burst and many e-companies went out of business, Amazon persevered and finally turned its first profit in the fourth quarter of 2002: a meager $5 million, just 1 cent per share, on revenues of over $1 billion, but it was important symbolically. The firm has since remained profitable and maintained revenues of over $1 billion per fiscal quarter. In January 2004, Amazon posted its first full-year net profit (for calendar year 2003). Its profits were $35.3 million on revenues of $5.65 billion. Much of the growth of the company came from its international division.

Time Magazine named Bezos its 1999 Man of the Year in recognition of the company's success in popularizing online shopping.

(Amazon.com Information Courtesy of Wikipedia.)