Amazon becomes the 2nd company to hit $1 trillion in value

Jeff Bezos has long been one of the wealthiest people in the world. Now, the company he founded is also one of the world’s most valuable.

Amazon became the second U.S company to reach a market cap of $1 trillion today, crossing the milestone when the stock price reached $2,050.27 per share this morning. The stock has been rocky since, closing at a price of $2,039.51 per share.

Amazon had been racing Apple to become the first U.S. company to reach a $1 trillion market value through most of the year. Apple surpassed a $1 trillion market value on Aug. 2 — just five weeks ago. Notably, each company has employed very different strategies and business models to get to this point. 

The trillion-dollar milestone comes just 50 days after Amazon set a new record during its own annual sales event, Amazon Prime Day, with over 100 million products sold. That event also pushed Amazon to a market value of $900 billion. 

The extended timeframe for Amazon Prime Day (which was about 36 hours this year) most likely contributed to the company’s higher sales number — which in turn drove the stock price even higher. This was all despite the fact that the website presented error messages to customers on the day of the event while many of them were trying to make purchases.

From the very beginning, Amazon set out to change the face of online retail. The company started as just an internet bookstore in 1994, but now offers thousands of products to customers around the globe. The success of Amazon Web Services and Amazon Logistics has also helped carry the company to new heights.

It’s also worth noting that, in 2014, Amazon tried entering the smartphone market with the Fire Phone and ultimately failed. However, the company has put a massive dent in other consumer tech categories. Amazon Echos and Alexa have become a household names with consumers and serve as a platform for other intelligent devices. 

We should also mention that last summer, Amazon acquired Whole Foods for $13.7 billion and moved into the grocery business. The stores have seen significant discounts and now serve as a storefront for Echo devices. Amazon has also been using the locations to install Amazon Locker pickup units.

The climb to a $1 trillion has been a long and winding road for Amazon, and although the company may have lost to in the race to this important milestone, we suspect that the company will still have plenty to celebrate in the near future.