Amazon is overtaken by Microsoft as world’s second most-valuable company after shares plunge 10 per cent DESPITE £44.2bn profit
- Comes after the retailer revealed financial data below expectations on Thursday
- Microsoft overtook it to become the world’s second most-valuable company
- Apple remains the top with a 2018 market value of 926.9 billion U.S. dollars
Amazon’s shares took an unexpected down-turn, this week – seeing them overtaken by rival Microsoft as the world’s second most-valuable company.
The online retailer were superseded late on Thursday evening, despite third quarter revenues increasing 29 per cent to $56.6bn (£44.2bn).
Although impressive, the epic sum was way below market predictions. Specifically, they were hoping for numbers between $66.5bn (£51bn) and $72.5bn (£56bn).
At one point, Amazon’s shares dropped as much as 10 per cent.
Displaced: The online retailer were superseded late on Thursday evening, despite third quarter revenues increasing 29 per cent to $56.6bn (£44.2bn)
Currently, Apple remains the industry leader with a 2018 market value of 926.9 billion U.S. dollars.
That said, E-commerce titan Amazon has come a long way from its humble beginnings in 1994.
Once a fledgling startup launched in an inauspicious location, the company is now one of the largest and most influential in the world.
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The company’s phenomenal success in recent years has also drawn criticism, with some, particularly U.S. Senator and former 2016 election candidate Bernie Sanders, alleging the tech giant underpays its warehouse workers, prompting CEO and founder Jeff Bezos to announce that the company will now raise its minimum wage to $15 (£11.53) per hour.
What is Amazon?
Amazon is an e-commerce and cloud computing company founded by Jeff Bezos and based in Seattle, Washington. The company is the largest online retailer in the world based on market capitalization and revenue and second only to the Alibaba Group of China based on total sales.
The company was founded on July 5, 1994 in the garage of Bezos’s rented home in Bellevue, Washington, initially as an online bookstore.
However, it soon branched out into virtually all aspects of e-commerce, selling video downloads and streaming, music downloads and streaming, audiobooks, video games, electronics, apparel, toys, jewelry, food and more.
Amazon is also the world’s largest cloud infrastructure services provider and produces its own consumer electronics lines, such as the Amazon Echo smart speakers, Kindle e-readers and Fire tablets. It also sells products under its AmazonBasics in-house brand.
Disappointing: At one point, Amazon’s shares dropped as much as 10 per cent
The company, which now operates on a global level, also launched its Amazon Prime paid subscription service in 2005 and has experimented with brick-and-mortar retail in recent years, establishing Amazon Go grocery stores in Seattle and Chicago starting in December 2016 and its Amazon 4-Star retail center for highly-rated products in New York City in January 2018.
Amazon also surpassed Walmart as the most valuable retailer in the U.S. based on market capitalization in 2015 and acquired Whole Foods Market in 2017 for $13.4 billion (£10.3bn).
As of 2017, Amazon employs roughly 566,000 people throughout the world.
Amazon stock
As of October 2, 2018, Amazon’s stock price was believed to be approximately $1,971.31 (£1,516.54) per share.
The company issued its initial public offering on May 15, 1997 for $18 (£13.85) per share at the time.
Amazon’s all-time high record stock price was $2,050.50 (£1,577.68) per share on September 4, 2018, the same day it hit the $1 trillion (£768.8bn) market cap.
According to CNBC, an initial investment of $1,000 (£769.07) in the company in 2008 would be worth $20,000 (£15,381.30) as of May 25, 2018, highlighting the rapid growth of the company’s stock in recent years.
How much is Amazon worth?
On September 4, 2018, Amazon became the second publicly traded U.S. company after Apple to reach the $1 trillion (£768.8bn) market cap valuation, attesting its rapid growth and prominence within both the U.S. economy and the worldwide technology sector.
In 2017, the company posted revenues of $177.8 billion (£136.6bn) and a net income of $3.03 billion (£2.33bn).
Who is Jeff Bezos?
Jeff Bezos is an entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist known as the founder, CEO and chairman of Amazon.
He was born on January 12, 1964 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Raised primarily in Houston and Miami, Bezos was deeply interested in science and technology growing up and graduated from Princeton University in 1986 with degrees in both electrical engineering and computer science.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos took the company from a fledgling startup to an online retail giant
After graduating, he worked on Wall Street in New York City in a number of computer science positions. Fascinated by the growth of the Internet, he relocated to Seattle in 1994 to established Amazon in his own garage.
Founded initially as an online bookstore, Amazon soon transformed into a titan of e-commerce around the world in the 2000s and 2010s, allowing Bezos to take the crown of the world’s wealthiest individual from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in late 2017.
In addition to Amazon, Bezos has also branched out into other business ventures, purchasing the Washington Post in 2013 and establishing the Blue Origin spaceflight startup in 2000. He’s also been active in a number of philanthropic ventures over the years, particularly in healthcare and education.
What is Jeff Bezos’s net worth?
Jeff Bezos’s net worth is believed to be about $112 billion (£86.2bn), making him the wealthiest person in the world.
It’s likely increased in recent months as Amazon has breached the $1 trillion (£768.8bn) market cap value in September 2018.
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