Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) is an American electronic commerce company based in Seattle, Washington. It was one of the first major companies to sell goods over the Internet and was one of the iconic stocks of the late 1990s dot-com bubble.

After the bubble burst Amazon faced skepticism about its business model, but it made its first annual profit in 2003. Amazon also owns Alexa Internet, A9.com, and the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).

Founded as Cadabra.com by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and launched in 1995, Amazon.com began as an online bookstore, though it soon diversified its product lines, adding DVDs, music CDs, computer software, video games, electronics, like mp3 players, apparel, furniture, food, and more. Amazon has established separate websites in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, France, China and Japan and it ships globally.

Amazon offers web services for access to its catalog as well as for integration with retailers like Target and Marks & Spencer. A9.com provides search engine services directly on the Amazon.com site. Since November 2005, the company has been testing Amazon Mechanical Turk, an API allowing programs to dispatch tasks to human volunteers.

Business model

Amazon's initial business plan was unusual: the company did not expect to turn a profit for four to five years. In retrospect, the strategy was effective. Amazon grew at a steady pace in the late 1990s while many other Internet companies grew at a blindingly fast pace. Amazon's "slow" growth caused a number of its stockholders to complain, saying that the company was not reaching profitability fast enough. When the Internet "bubble" burst and many e-companies went out of business, Amazon persevered and finally turned its first profit in the fourth quarter of 2002: a meager $5 million, just 1 cent per share, on revenues of over $1 billion, but it was important symbolically. The firm has since remained profitable: net profits were $35 million in 2003, $588 million in 2004 and $359 million in 2005. Revenue kept growing thanks to product diversification and international presence: $3.9 billion in 2002, $5.3 billion in 2003, $6.9 billion in 2004 and $8.5 billion in 2005. On November 21, 2005, Amazon entered the S&P 500 index, replacing the venerable AT&T after it merged with SBC Communications.

Time Magazine named Bezos its 1999 Man of the Year in recognition of the company's success in popularizing online shopping.

Partnerships and locations

Amazon.com operates retail websites not only for the United States, but also for Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, France, China and Japan. In addition, the Web sites of Borders.com, Borders.co.uk, Waldenbooks.com, Virginmega.com, Waterstones.co.uk, CDNOW.com, and HMV.com now redirect to Amazon's site for the country in question, for which these companies are paid referral fees. Until June 30, 2006, typing ToysRUs.com into one's browser would similarly bring up Amazon.com's Toys & Games tab; however, this relationship was terminated as the result of a lawsuit.

Amazon.com also operates retail Web sites for Target, the NBA, and Bombay Company.

Corporate headquarters

The company's headquarters are on Seattle, Washington's Beacon Hill. It has additional offices in the International District, Rainier Valley, and Downtown's Columbia Center. Additional development centers are in Slough, England; Edinburgh, Scotland; Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, India; Phoenix, Arizona; and Iaşi, Romania.

In Europe, Amazon has sites in Germany, France, and the UK, with headquarters in Munich, Paris, and Slough respectively.