Amazon, legally known as Amazon.com, Inc., is a multinational technology company involved in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 as an online bookstore in Bellevue, Washington. It has since grown into the world's largest online retailer and marketplace. Amazon's mission is to be Earth's most customer-centric company, the best employer, and the safest place to work.
Amazon has several divisions, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is the company’s most profitable segment. In January 2026, Amazon announced it would be closing its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores, shifting focus to online same-day delivery and expanding its Whole Foods Market business. In October 2025, Amazon announced plans to reduce its corporate workforce by 14,000 positions, followed by another large-scale layoff of approximately 16,000 corporate employees in January 2026. Despite these workforce reductions, Amazon continues to innovate, with recent developments including the expansion of Amazon Pharmacy's same-day delivery to nearly 4,500 cities in 2026 and the introduction of "Rufus," an AI chatbot designed to assist shoppers.