Amazon.com
Leading online retailer.
Headquarters: 410 Terry Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109
Employees: 154,100
CEO: Jeff Bezos
Stock Symbol: AMZN
Website: http://www.amazon.com
Company News
Career Site
Amazon.com is the Internet's leading retailer. Best known for selling books online, you can find much more for sale at Amazon from electronics to jewelry, kitchen appliances, groceries, clothing and computers.
Amazon's website is praised for its ease-of-use as well offering customer reviews and ratings of products sold. Strong customer service and timely product delivery has been a key to the company's success.
Amazon pioneered the use of affiliate links, where other websites would promote Amazon products in exchange for a commission on sales, starting at 4%.
In addition to the U.S., Amazon also operates sites for Canada, United Kingdom, Italy, Austria, China, Japan, France, Spain, India and Germany. The company also owns IMDB ( Internet Movie Database) and Alexa, which provides traffic information for websites. Another subsidiary, A9.com, is based in Silicon Valley and is developing search technology and visual Yellow Pages. Audible.com is also owned by Amazon and provides audio versions of books.
Zappos is another Amazon subsidiary. Based in Las Vegas, Zappos sells shoes to customers online and is known for excellent customer service.
The company introduced the Kindle in 2007, a portable electronic book reader that lets users download books, newspapers and magazines wirelessly onto the device. Over one million books are available for purchase electronically. Amazon introduced the Kindle Fire in November 2011, a 7-inch tablet device that includes e-mail access, Internet browser and apps for $199. In 2012, Amazon introduced a Kindle HD version and larger version with 8.9-inch screen for $299. In 2014, Amazon introduced the Fire TV Stick.
The company also offers Prime Instant Video with thousands of movies and TV shows available for streaming to customers with annual Prime membership of $99. The company is now offering one- or two-hour delivery to Prime customers in 16 cities across the country for an extra fee. Amazon has produced its own shows for its Prime Video network including Transparent, Man in the High Castle, Mozart in the Jungle and Red Oak.
Amazon operates a massive network of 80+ distribution centers across the country allowing for faster delivery of items to customers.
Amazon is also using its computing power to provide services to other websites through a division called Amazon Web Services. AWS offers applications and hosting services for over one million customers, including many major Internet companies and businesses like NetFlix, Thomson Reuters and Pinterest.
In August 2014, the company acquired Twitch -- a live video platform for gamers -- for $970 million in cash.
Amazon reported record revenues in 2014 of $88.99 billion, a 20% increase, and net loss of $241 million for the year.
History
The company launched its online site in July 1995 and offered Earth's Biggest Selection of books. It would quickly expand into a variety of categories and also offered online auctions of goods. The company partnered with Toys R'Us to sell toys online and went public in 1997.
CEO and founder Jeff Bezos was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1999 as a visionary who symbolized the increasing growth of Internet retailing.
The company acquired DPReview.com in 2007, a website with in-depth reviews of digital cameras.
In 2009, Amazon purchased Zappos.com, an online shoe retailer, for about $850 million.
Amazon bought Quidsi Inc. in 2011 for $545 million. Quidski operates Diapers.com and Soap.com.
In 2014, Amazon launched its own smartphone called The Fire but was discontinued in 2015.
Benefits
Amazon headquarters are in Seattle and it operates distribution centers in Nevada, Kansas, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
Health Care:
- A choice of three medical plans designed to meet your individual needs (several in-network and out-of-network options), with domestic partner coverage
- Dental plan
- Vision plan
- Company-paid basic life and accident coverage as well as optional coverage at a low cost
- Company-paid short- and long-term disability plan
- Employee assistance program including dependent-care referral services and financial/legal services
- Health-care and dependent-care flexible spending accounts
Time Off:
- Salaried employees earn two weeks of vacation time in the first year, three weeks of vacation in the second
- Hourly employees earn 40 hours of vacation time in the first year, 80 hours in the second
- Five personal days every year in addition to six holidays
Savings Plans:
- Every full-time Amazon.com employee receives Amazon.com Restricted Stock Units
- 401(k) savings plan with a company match
- Several employee discount programs
Updated January 2, 2016
|