The biggest name in e-commerce got its start 30 years ago Wednesday.
Amazon launched on July 16, 1995. Back then, there was no Whole Foods, AWS, Prime Day, or most of the other things that the company has become famous for. Instead, Amazon sold one thing: Books.
Early visitors to its website were greeted with “Welcome to Amazon.com Books!” and the promise of being able to order from “one million titles,” according to a screenshot.
Customers could also sign up for email notifications of new book releases or peruse a daily selection of recommended books, according to the screenshot.
There was also a listing of job opportunities at the startup. “If you’re interested in the new juxtaposition of retailing and computers, please investigate the opportunities!” the website read.
Today, Amazon shoppers are likely to see an ad for an Amazon-produced show, customized product recommendations, and a nudge to join its Prime membership within a few seconds of being on the company’s homepage.
Screenshot
At the time, then-CEO Jeff Bezos ran the company with his now ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, and seven other early Amazon employees.
At the end of 2024, by contrast, the company had about 1.5 million full- and part-time employees.
Bezos got the idea for selling books while working in finance in New York City in the early 1990s.
After making a list of about 20 items that he could sell online, Bezos picked books because there were more varieties of books than any other type of product, he said in a 1997 interview.
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At the time, Bezos estimated there were about 3 million books in print, about half of which were in English — far more than any brick-and-mortar store could carry.
“When you have that many items, you could literally build a store online that couldn’t exist any other way,” Bezos said.
Since then, Amazon has expanded its empire into businesses into groceries, web services, and entertainment. The company now has a more than $2 trillion market cap.
Amazon debuted its first movie downloading service in 2006 under the name Amazon Unbox. The service has since evolved and survived many names. It became Amazon Instant Video in 2008, Prime Instant Video in 2011, and eventually Prime Video, now a streaming library accessible for Prime members.
Following the movie venture, Amazon also released its first mobile shopping app for the iPhone and iPod touch in 2008, making it one of the first companies to make shopping available on touchscreen devices.
In June 2017, Amazon bought Whole Foods Market for about $13.7 billion in an all-cash deal, marking its most significant acquisition to date. The e-commerce giant announced back then in a press release that the integration would lower prices and bring Prime benefits to Whole Foods stores.
Amazon’s major leadership transition came in 2021, when the then-CEO, Bezos, transitioned to Executive Chair in the third quarter of the year. Andy Jassy, previously CEO of Amazon Web Services, succeeded Bezos and has remained CEO since.
Amazon recently announced a further push into AI, with a $100 billion initiative to build data center clusters powered by custom Trainium 2 chips, named Project Rainier. These facilities are under expansion in Pennsylvania and North Carolina.