History of Amazon.com
The Amazon Company was created in 1994 by Jeffrey Bezos during the rise of the internet. Originally the website was an online bookstore. The company has been a member of the Nasdaq Index since 1997 and acquired Bookpages, Telebook, Internet Movie Database, Planet All and Jungle Corporation in 1998.
In 1999, the site continues its momentum and acquires shares in the sites:
Drugstore.com
HomeGrocer.com
Pets.com
Exchange.com
In 2000, he allied with the Toysrus.com site as well as Borders.com and Virgin Entertainment Group to market their products online.
Also, Amazon won contracts with Foot Locker and NBA (National Basketball Association) in 2003. That same year, it diversified its product portfolio by offering jewelry, delicatessen; body care products …
In 2004, the company entered the Chinese market by acquiring joyo.com, the largest online cultural book and product marketing site in China. Amazon is providing the company, The Bombay Company, it’s e-commerce platform to launch various online sales sites (Bombay Kids, Bombay Outlet …).
High Rate of Growth
The following year, in 2005, it launched its own A9 search engine and then bought Shopbob.com, a retailer of clothing, footwear and fashion accessories. The shoe and accessories sales site, Endless.com, is then launched in 2006.
In 2009, It introduces the Kindle DX Reader that offers significant reading and storage capabilities. This will continue to be improved today. It offers more and more possibilities and applications. It even competes with giants on the market like the iPad of the Apple brand.
Amazon has often been criticized for the working conditions imposed on its employees, particularly for temporary workers hired en masse during the end-of-year celebrations, where the activity is experiencing a considerable increase. Indeed, these conditions deemed difficult have been denounced by journalists that have damaged the image of the brand, especially in Britain and France. A book was even released following these cases, In the company, Jean-Baptiste Malet.
Amazon France has had a media lawsuit against the Syndicat de la Librairie Française (SLF) concerning the shipping costs. It lost this lawsuit and was forced to pay damages and change its terms and conditions of sale. The group defended free shipping for customers; however, according to book professionals, this free was made possible to the detriment of booksellers. During this trial, the group used “mail bombing” practices, which involved asking customers to send bulk mail to the SLF.
Sectors / Business Unit of Amazon.com
Amazon.com is a company specializing in the distribution of books, video games, music, laptops, televisions, clothing, cosmetics, jewelry, appliances. The company is also developing Internet-based computer applications for certain customers through one of its subsidiaries, AMZN Web Services (AWS), as well as low-cost data storage services (AMZN Simple Storage Service), cloud computing, payment (AMZN Flexible Payments Service …
Breakdown of Sales by Amazon.com Business Activity:
63.3% electronic and computer products
32.6% of cultural products
4.1% other products and services (AWS, Amazon S3, Amazon EC2 …)
Presence of Amazon.com (Worldwide)
The company is operating in several countries through the establishment of different national websites:
The company employs more than 51,000 people worldwide, for the IT aspect (orders, IT management …) and warehouse logistics (inventory management, order preparation …).
Top Competitors of Amazon.com:
Barnes & Noble Inc.
eBay Inc
Hastings Entertainment Inc.
Columbia House Company
Apple Inc.
Best Buy Co, Inc
Books-A-Million, Inc.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Management of Amazon.com
The Chairman and CEO of Amazon.com is Jeffrey P. Bezos. He chairs the Board of Directors composed of 9 members:
Jeffrey Bezos
Tom Alberg
John Seely Brown
John Doerr
William Gordon
Alain Monié
Myrtle Potter
Thomas Ryder
Patricia Stonesifer
The Board of Directors has formed 3 committees:
the audit committee (3 members)
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee (3 members)
the Compensation and Executive Development Committee (6 members)
Financial Data of the Company Amazon.com
Amazon.com is a company listed on the Nasdaq 100 Index since 1997 under the name AMZN.
Number of titles: 455 243 000
Market capitalization: $ 126,630 million
Share Capital of Amazon.com Inc.:
80.5% Floating
19.5% Jeffrey P. Bezos
Stock Price History
The Amazon stock share price chart and data show an upward trend. The latest closing stock price as of October 22, 2019, is 1765.73.
- The record-high stock closing price of company was 2039.51 on September 04, 2018.
- Its 52-week high stock price is 2035.80, which is 15.3% above the current share price.
- The Amazon 52-week low stock price is 1307.00, which is 26% below the current share price.
- The average stock price for the last 52 weeks is 1756.41.
Revenue & Gross Sales
Amazon revenue and growth during the period 2006 to 2019, are here.
- At the quarter ending June 30, 2019, was US$63.404B, an increase of 19.89% over last year.
- 2018 revenue was US $232.887B, an increase of 30.93% from 2017.
- 2017 revenue was US $177.866B, an increase of 30.8% from 2016.
- 2016 revenue was US $135.987B, an increase of 27.08% from 2015.
Total Assets 2006-2019 | AMZN
Amazon Company’s total assets figures declared as on the balance sheet from 2006 -2019 are as follows.
- At the quarter ending June 30, 2019, it was US$191.351B, an increase of 42.69% over the last year.
- 2018 total assets were US $162.648B, an increase of 23.87% from 2017.
- 2017 total assets were US $131.31B, an increase of 57.44% from 2016.
- 2016 total assets were US $83.402B, an increase of 28.81% from 2015.
Amazon Group Marketing Analysis
You can consult the SWOT Analysis of Amazon but also see our section SWOT & PESTLE for the other largest global companies.
For more information on the Amazon group, you can consult the fact sheet on Amazon.com