Amazon’s value recently reached a new height, with increased stock prices making the retailer a $1 trillion company.
The e-commerce giant is the second American company to achieve a $1 trillion value, hitting that milestone after Apple in August, The New York Times reports.
“Amazon captures 49 cents of every e-commerce dollar in the United States. It employs more than 550,000 people and generates $178 billion in annual revenue. It sells everything from computing space to peanut butter to appointments with plumbers,” the Times article says.
“But the thing it has always sold the most — to investors, customers, the news media — is excitement.”
The company has transformed retail, moving so much of it online, and revolutionized package delivery.
The article charts how Amazon steadily climbed in prominence from an online bookseller to a digital powerhouse. Its introduction of the Kindle e-reader helped solidify the company as a destination for books. Later, it branched into web hosting services to create new revenue and launched Amazon Prime to connect customers with products quickly.
The valuation comes as the company is still searching for the location of its second headquarters in the U.S., a decision it is expected to make by the end of 2018.