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AMAZON’S
EXTRAORDINARY
EVOLUTION
1994 | Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie open an online bookstore in Seattle because of the city's reputation as a tech hub and because Washington's small population meant that they wouldn't have to charge sales taxes to most of their customer base. |
1997 | Amazon goes public at $18 per share, giving it a valuation of $300 million. Due to heavy investments in technology and marketing as it seeks to beat back tough competition from bookselling giant Barnes & Noble. |
1999 | Amazon patents the ability to purchase an item online with the click of a mouse. Called 1-Click, the technology gives the company an early advantage by prompting customers to buy more and allowing the company to collect their data. |
2002 | Amazon announces a partnership with several major clothing companies to offer 400 apparel brands in its online store. Amazon has now moved far beyond books, with offerings that include electronics, toys, kitchenware, and even magazine subscriptions. |
2003 | The company starts to generate extra income by licensing its platform to other e-commerce sites, like Borders.com and Target.com. |
2004 | Amazon pays $75 million to buy Joyo, the largest online seller of books and electronics in the growing Chinese market. But the division — renamed Amazon China — faced stiff competition. |
2007 | During an earnings call, Bezos announces a $79-a-year loyalty program that includes free two-day shipping on any order. Now, with more than 100 million members worldwide, Prime is considered one of Amazon's most valuable assets. |
2013 | Bezos says he will pay $250 million of his own money for the financially struggling Washington Post. His plan: To take it private and pump cash into new staff and better online products. |
2017 | After struggling for years in the intensely competitive grocery delivery business, Amazon ups the ante and purchases Whole Foods' 471 stores for $13.7 billion. It has since started to integrate the two companies' distribution networks and offer discounts to Prime members. |
2019 | Amazon ditches plans to build a new headquarters in New York after facing backlash from local politicians and community members. In a statement Amazon said "a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence” in Long Island City. |
2021 | Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will step down from his role as chief executive later this year and transition to the role of executive chair. He will be replaced by Andy Jassy. He oversaw its growth from an online bookseller into a $1.7 trillion global retail and logistics behemoth, which has also made Bezos into one of the world's richest people. |
