What started as a modest operation run out of Jeff Bezos' garage in Bellevue, Washington, on July 5, 1994, would eventually become one of the most powerful companies on the planet. In its earliest days, Amazon was nothing more than an online bookstore. But the company wasn't content to stay in one lane for long — within four years, music and videos had been added to the catalog. True to its bookish origins, Amazon then ventured across borders, launching online bookstores in both the UK and Germany. By 1999, the product lineup had ballooned to encompass video games, electronics, software, and a wide array of other products, signaling a clear dedication to serving diverse customer needs.
Here's a fun piece of trivia: Amazon almost had a completely different name. When Jeff Bezos originally dreamed up the company, he wanted to call it "Cadabra," inspired by the magic word "abracadabra." That plan hit a snag, though, when an attorney he consulted about registering the business pointed out that "Cadabra" sounded uncomfortably close to "cadaver" — not exactly the association you want customers making. Before long, they landed on "Amazon," a reference to the Amazon River, chosen because they envisioned their selection being as vast as that legendary waterway.
In a full-circle moment, Amazon opened its first brick-and-mortar bookstore in 2015, paying homage to how it all began. And while you can purchase nearly anything imaginable through the platform, there are notable exceptions — houses, automobiles, cigarettes and living animals remain off the table. Trying to steer clear of the company entirely? That's harder than you might think. Amazon owns 41 brands, among them Goodreads, Whole Foods, and Audible. Their portfolio also includes IMDb.com and Zappos.com, together with Souq.com, an e-commerce website serving Middle Eastern countries. Every purchase you make through any of these is ultimately padding Amazon's bottom line.
By 2020, Amazon employed about 200,000 people, and plenty of them didn't come to the office alone — they brought their pets along. Over at the campus in Seattle, roughly 6,000 dogs "work" for Amazon on any given day. The company's pet-friendly culture is legendary, and one of the buildings in Seattle even features a dedicated deck for dogs, complete with a fake fire hydrant for their amusement.