From an initial IPO of $18, to a share price of over $3,000, Amazon shows no sign of slowing down. Starting off as an online book store, Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, had big plans to grow the name into a global phenomenon very fast.
Story So Far
The company’s growth has not always been a bed of roses though, with many turbulences having been faced along the way. In particular, Amazon saw losses of $3 billion during its early operational years and only reported its first profit in the last quarter of 2001 – 6 whole years after its launch!
The company’s first full yearly profit came in 2003, with Bezos making bigger plans and showing no intimidation of any bumps he faced along the way.
Amazon’s expansion went on to selling music, clothing, and then launched its third-party seller marketplace which we know today, where anyone has the ability to sell items.
Slowly, Amazon became the ‘go to’ place for online shopping for anything you can imagine with absolutely no competition in sight.
Fast forward to 2018, Amazon hit a $1 trillion market cap, fueled by its rising gains and stock price that soared to $2,039.51 in September that year.
Amazon was the second company after Apple to hit the $1 trillion mark in that same year, which was definitely a historical moment.
Pandemic Impact
Last year, when COVID-19 spread across the globe, Amazon showed another considerable growth, followed by a 60%+ increase in its stock price.
With the majority of people around the world in isolation, businesses shut due to global and local lockdowns, shopping online was the only option.
From retail to food shopping, consumers could find everything they really needed in one single place – Amazon.com!