Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)

Amazon Common Stock (AMZN)

Amazon is a publicly traded company listed on the NASDAQ GS under the ticker symbol "AMZN". Amazon is a component of the Nasdaq 100 and the S&P 500.

Amazon went public with an initial public offering (IPO) on May 15, 1997. The IPO price for Amazon's shares at that time was $18 per share, and the company raised $54 million in capital. Since then, Amazon's stock has grown significantly in value. Amazon's IPO is considered to be one of the most successful IPOs in history, as it allowed the company to raise capital and expand its business operations, leading to its current status as one of the world's most valuable companies.

Amazon has split its stock 4 times throughout its history. Here are the details of the stock splits:

June 2, 1998: 2-for-1 stock split

January 5, 1999: 3-for-1 stock split

September 2, 1999: 2-for-1 stock split

June 6, 2022: 20-for-1 stock split

1 share of Amazon owned prior to June 2, 1998 is equivalent to 240 shares today.

It's important to note that stock splits do not change the total value of an investor's holdings, but they do increase the number of shares that an investor owns, which can make the stock more accessible and affordable to a wider range of investors.

Amazon is a multinational technology company that operates in various sectors, including:

E-commerce

Amazon's primary business is e-commerce, where it offers a wide range of products and services to customers globally. The company sells products ranging from books, electronics, clothing, and groceries through its online platform.

Cloud computing

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a cloud computing platform that offers a range of services, including computing power, storage, and databases, to businesses and organizations.

Digital streaming

Amazon Prime Video is an online streaming service that offers exclusive TV shows, movies, and documentaries to its subscribers.

Advertising

Amazon offers advertising services to businesses and organizations through its Amazon Advertising platform.

Artificial Intelligence

Amazon invests heavily in AI technology, including its voice assistant, Alexa, which powers its smart speakers and other smart home devices.

Logistics and transportation

Amazon has a vast logistics network that includes warehouses, delivery centers, and transportation services, enabling it to deliver products quickly to customers worldwide.

Amazon's GICS sector is Consumer Discretionary, which includes companies that offer goods and services that are considered non-essential or discretionary, such as clothing, entertainment, and automobiles. Within the Consumer Discretionary sector, Amazon falls into the Internet & Direct Marketing Retail sub-industry, which includes companies that sell products directly to consumers through online channels.

(GICS stands for Global Industry Classification Standard, which is a standardized system used by financial market participants to classify companies into sectors and industries based on their business activities. The GICS framework consists of 11 sectors, 157 sub-industries, and 156 sub-sub-industries)

Amazon Common Stock Dividend

Amazon does not currently pay a dividend.

 

 

About Amazon (AMZN)

Amazon is an American multinational technology company that is headquartered in Seattle, Washington and employs 1,541,000 people around the world.

Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 as an online bookstore, with the aim of creating a "store that is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week". Bezos initially operated the company out of his garage in Bellevue, Washington, and launched the Amazon.com website in July of that year. In 1997, Amazon went public, raising $54 million in its initial public offering (IPO).

Amazon quickly expanded its product offerings beyond books, adding music and movies in 1998, and later expanding into a wide range of other categories, such as electronics, home goods, and fashion.

In 1999, Amazon introduced its "one-click" ordering feature, which allowed customers to make purchases with a single click, without having to enter their shipping and billing information each time.

In 2002, Amazon launched its Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform, which initially provided cloud-based storage and computing services for developers and businesses. AWS quickly grew in popularity and became a major source of revenue for the company.

In 2005, Amazon launched its Amazon Prime subscription service, which offered customers free two-day shipping on millions of items for an annual fee. Prime has since expanded to include a range of additional benefits, such as streaming video and music, unlimited photo storage, and early access to select deals.

In 2007, Amazon introduced the Kindle e-reader, which quickly became one of the company's most successful products. The Kindle allowed customers to purchase and download e-books from the Amazon store, helping to popularize digital reading and driving growth in the e-book market.

In 2013, Amazon announced plans to launch a drone delivery service, which would use unmanned aerial vehicles to deliver packages to customers in 30 minutes or less. Although the service has yet to launch on a widespread basis, Amazon has continued to invest in drone technology and is exploring a range of other innovative delivery methods, such as self-driving delivery trucks.

The Amazon Echo is a smart speaker that was first introduced by Amazon in 2014. The Echo is designed to be a voice-controlled assistant that can help users with a range of tasks, such as playing music, setting reminders, and answering questions.

The Echo is powered by Amazon's Alexa voice assistant, which uses natural language processing and machine learning to understand and respond to user requests. Users can activate Alexa by saying "Alexa" followed by a command or question, such as "What's the weather like today?" or "Play some music."

In addition to its core functionality as a smart speaker, the Echo can also be used to control smart home devices, such as lights, thermostats, and locks, using voice commands. Amazon has also developed a range of other devices that work with Alexa, such as the Echo Dot (a smaller, more affordable version of the Echo), the Echo Show (which includes a screen for displaying videos and other content), and the Echo Auto (which allows users to access Alexa in their cars).

Since its launch, the Echo has become a major success for Amazon, helping to establish the company as a leader in the growing market for smart home devices. The Echo has also inspired a range of similar products from other companies, such as the Google Home and the Apple HomePod.

Amazon Alexa was first introduced in November 2014 as the voice-controlled personal assistant software that powers the Amazon Echo smart speaker. The Echo was initially available only by invitation, but it quickly became popular, and Amazon released it to the general public in June 2015.

The initial version of Alexa was limited in its capabilities, but Amazon began expanding its functionality by adding new "skills," which are essentially third-party apps that allow users to access additional features and services. Alexa also began integrating with a range of other smart home devices, allowing users to control everything from their lights to their thermostats using voice commands.

In 2017, Amazon acquired Whole Foods Market, a high-end grocery chain, for $13.7 billion. The acquisition gave Amazon a foothold in the grocery industry and allowed the company to expand its offerings in the food and beverage category.

In 2018, Amazon announced that it was searching for a location to build a second headquarters, which it dubbed "HQ2". The search sparked a nationwide competition among cities and regions, with cities offering billions of dollars in incentives to try to win the company's favor. In the end, Amazon chose to split its HQ2 between Long Island City, New York and Arlington, Virginia, although it later cancelled the New York location due to opposition from local politicians and activists.

Over the years, Amazon has continued to innovate and expand, introducing a range of new products and services. The company has also expanded its global reach, launching operations in dozens of countries around the world and acquiring local e-commerce companies to help drive growth in new markets. Amazon has grown to become one of the world's largest online retailers, offering a wide variety of products and services, including electronics, books, clothing, groceries, and cloud computing services.

Despite facing a number of challenges over the years, such as the dot-com bust in the early 2000s and increased competition from other retailers, Amazon has remained one of the most successful and influential companies in the world.

Amazon's business model is based on offering low prices, a wide selection of products, and fast delivery times to customers around the world. The company has also expanded into other areas, such as streaming media, with its Amazon Prime Video service, and hardware, with products like the Amazon Echo smart speaker and Kindle e-reader.

In addition to its retail operations, Amazon has become a major player in the cloud computing industry with its Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform, which provides a wide range of cloud-based services to businesses and organizations around the world. AWS is one of the largest cloud computing platforms in the world and is used by many of the world's largest companies.

Amazon has a massive global presence, with operations in dozens of countries around the world, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, China, Japan, and Australia.

Amazon's success has made its founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, one of the richest people in the world. As of 2021, Bezos was estimated to have a net worth of over $190 billion, making him one of the wealthiest people in history.

In addition to its core retail and cloud computing businesses, Amazon has also invested in a variety of other ventures, such as healthcare (through its acquisition of PillPack), grocery stores (through its acquisition of Whole Foods Market), and self-driving cars (through its investment in autonomous vehicle startup Aurora).

Amazon has faced criticism over a number of issues related to its business practices, including its treatment of workers in its warehouses and fulfillment centers, its impact on small businesses and local retailers, and its use of data and algorithms to drive sales and profits.

In recent years, Amazon has faced increased scrutiny from government regulators around the world, including antitrust investigations in the United States and Europe.

Despite these challenges, Amazon remains one of the most powerful and influential companies in the world, with a vast network of customers, suppliers, and partners that stretches across the globe.

About Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos is an American entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist, who is best known as the founder and former CEO of Amazon.com, the world's largest online retailer. He was born on January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and raised in Houston, Texas.

Bezos graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1986 with degrees in electrical engineering and computer science. After graduation, he worked on Wall Street and founded his first company, Fitel, a telecommunications start-up. He then went on to work at Bankers Trust and later became the youngest senior vice president at the investment firm D.E. Shaw & Co.

In 1994, Bezos founded Amazon.com, which began as an online bookstore and quickly grew into the world's largest online retailer, offering a wide range of products and services, from books and electronics to clothing and home goods. Bezos served as the company's CEO until 2021, overseeing its expansion into new markets, such as cloud computing, streaming video, and artificial intelligence.

Under Bezos' leadership, Amazon.com became one of the most valuable companies in the world, with a market capitalization that exceeded $1 trillion at times. Bezos also became one of the richest people in the world, with a net worth that peaked at over $200 billion in 2020.

In addition to his work at Amazon.com, Bezos has also pursued a range of philanthropic and entrepreneurial interests, including founding Blue Origin, a spaceflight company, and The Washington Post, a major American newspaper. He has also pledged to donate billions of dollars to charitable causes through the Bezos Day One Fund and other initiatives.