Amazon is one of the world’s most profitable businesses with an earning of $87.4 billion reported in the fourth quarter of 2019. Does Jeff Bezos own it?
Yes, tech giant Jeff Bezos does own Amazon. Not only does Jeff Bezos own the company, he is also the founder and has been at the head of the groundbreaking enterprise for almost thirty years.
Scroll down to learn more about how Bezos began and developed Amazon into the tech giant it is today.
Starting Out As an Online Bookstore
It was in July of 1994 that Jeff Bezos founded Amazon. When Bezos initially incorporated the company, he called it Cadabra Inc. but soon thereafter chose to change the name to Amazon. He had toyed with the idea of naming the company Relentless, even going as far as purchasing the domain relentless.com, but was convinced by friends that the name was too sinister. Finally, he settled on the name Amazon because the Amazon Basin was different and exotic, just like the idea he had for his new company.
Using his deep seeded analytical skills, Bezos compiled a list of the top twenty products that he could market online. He narrowed that list down and eventually settled on the idea of selling books through his e-commerce website.Working out of his garage in Bellevue, Washington, Bezos sold and shipped books to all 50 states and 45 countries. It only took Bezos two months to see sales sky rocket to $20,000 dollars a week. His parents, who had invested $300,000 in their son’s startup, were extremely proud of the accomplishment.
Amazon Goes Public
On March 24, 1997, Amazon announced that they had filed for their Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the stock market. The IPO would be for 2.5 million shares of common stock.
On May 15, 1997, the company entered the stock market. The Initial Public Offering (IPO) was set at $18 a share, but once trading began at the open, the stock sold for as high as $30 a piece. When the market closed, the company found itself to be $54 million richer closing at a market value of $438 million.
In a GeekWire article, it was determined that if a person invested $1000 in the IPO Amazon stock, that money would be worth around $634,000 twenty years later!
