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Amazon is created
Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie open an online bookstore in Seattle. Bezos finances the company with $10,000 from his own pocket. He and the small staff spend their early days working in his garage on desks made out of doors purchased from Home Depot. -
Amazon goes public
Amazon goes public at $18 per share, giving it a valuation of $300 million. In its filing, the company warns investors that it expects to report "substantial operating losses for the foreseeable future," due to heavy investments in technology and marketing as it seeks to beat back tough competition from bookselling giant Barnes & Noble. -
Amazon expands into music
Amazon expands its offerings and starts selling CDs and DVDs. The music section launched with 125,000 titles and allowed shoppers to listen to song clips as well as view recommendations matched to their mood. -
Bezos named Time’s Person of the Year
Time Magazine names Bezos Person of the Year, dubbing him "the king of cybercommerce." At age 35, Bezos is the fourth-youngest recipient of the distinction. -
Amazon starts selling clothing
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. -
Amazon enter China
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. As of 2018, it only had 0.7% of online sales, trailing far behind Alibaba's 58.2%, according to eMarketer. -
Amazon Prime debuts
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. -
Amazon unveils its Kindle
Just as the holiday shopping season is about kick into full gear, Amazon unveils its Kindle. The electronic reading device enables users to wirelessly download books, magazines and newspaper articles among other content. Starting price was $399. -
Amazon acquires audiobooks company Audible
Amazon pays $300 million for Audible, which comes with a library of 80,000 programs in the United States and Europe. Audible now holds 41% of the audiobook market, which has been growing rapidly with the rise of smartphones and streaming-enabled car stereo systems. -
Amazon releases first (and last) smartphone
Amazon enters the smartphone market with its Fire phone, which integrated with Amazon's universe of media streaming options. But the phone flopped, forcing Amazon to take a $170 million writedown and cease production the following year. -
Amazon acquires the social video game streaming site Twitch
Amazon buys Twitch Interactive, the three-year-old video game streaming company, for $970 million. The deal not only complements the work being done at Amazon's own game production division, but it helps pull the global gaming community towards its cloud platform, Amazon Web Services. -
Amazon opens first bookstore
After being blamed for the decline of independent bookstores across the country, Amazon opens its own physical retail location in Seattle. The store's opening is meant to market Amazon's growing list of electronic devices as much as it is to sell books. Amazon now has 15 bookstores in cities across the United States. -
Amazon Echo becomes available
After unveiling its first smart speaker in 2014 to select customers, Amazon puts the Echo in 3,000 stores nationwide just in time for the holiday season. The Echo is the platform for Alexa, Amazon's virtual personal assistant, and therefore the key to a wealth of consumer data and purchasing decisions. -
Minimum wage raised to $15 an hour
Under pressure from unions and progressives like Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Amazon announces it will raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour, effective November 1. The change is expected to impact 250,000 of the company's employees, plus 100,000 seasonal workers. -
Amazon marks 25 years in business
At the quarter-century mark, Amazon has 647,500 employees, occupies 288.4 million square feet of real estate, and accounts for nearly half of online retail in the United States. Through it all, the company has maintained its intense focus on the customer — sometimes, critics charge, to the detriment of everyone else. -
Sources
DePillis, L., & Sherman, I. (2019, July 05). Amazon's extraordinary 25-year evolution. Retrieved October 06, 2020, from https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2018/10/business/amazon-history-timeline/index.html
