Amazon
The world’s biggest online marketplace, plus a giant cloud.
52-week range
As of 2 Oct 2026, 22:00What does Amazon do?
Seattle-based Amazon sells almost everything online and also lets other retailers sell on its marketplace, charging them for sales, storage and shipping. On top come advertising, the Prime subscription and AWS, where companies rent computing power in the cloud. AWS brings in under a fifth of revenue but more than half of profit.
From the parcel at your door, Prime Video in the evening, or Alexa in the kitchen.
How Amazon makes money
- Own online retail38 %
- Fees from marketplace sellers24 %
- Cloud (AWS)18 %
- Advertising10 %
- Prime & other subscriptions7 %
- Stores (e.g. Whole Foods) & other4 %
Strengths
- AWS is the world’s largest cloud provider and highly profitable.
- Advertising is growing fast because Amazon knows exactly what people buy.
- A dense network of warehouses and delivery that rivals can hardly copy.
Risks
- Online retail margins are thin, and discount sellers like Temu add pressure.
- Competition authorities in the US and EU are scrutinizing Amazon’s market power.
- Heavy spending on AI data centers weighs on profit in the short term, plus there is dollar risk.
- Founded
- 1994
- Headquarters
- Seattle, Washington
- Employees
- about 1.58 million
What if you had invested in Amazon earlier?
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This page explains the company and is not a recommendation to buy or sell.