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AMAZON.COM, INC.
PART I
Item 1. Business
This Annual Report on Form 10-K and the documents incorporated herein by reference contain forward-
looking statements based on expectations, estimates, and projections as of the date of this filing. Actual results
may differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements. See Item 1A of Part I—“Risk
Factors.”
Amazon.com, Inc. was incorporated in 1994 in the state of Washington and reincorporated in 1996 in the
state of Delaware. Our principal corporate offices are located in Seattle, Washington. We completed our initial
public offering in May 1997 and our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the
symbol “AMZN.”
As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc. and its
subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.
General
Amazon.com, a Fortune 500 company, opened its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and
today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. We seek to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers
can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavor to offer customers the lowest
possible prices.
Amazon.com operates retail websites and offers programs that enable third parties to sell products on our
websites. Our retail websites include www.amazon.com, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.de,www.amazon.fr,
www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.co.uk, www.joyo.com,www.shopbop.com, and www.endless.com. We also
provide services for third-party retailers, marketing and promotional services, and web services for developers. In
addition, we operate other websites, including www.a9.com and www.alexa.com that enable search and
navigation and www.imdb.com, a comprehensive movie database.
We have organized our operations into two principal segments: North America and International. See Item 8
of Part II, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 13—Segment Information.” See Item 7 of
Part II, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Results of
Operations—Supplemental Information” for supplemental information about our net sales.
Amazon.com Retail and Third-Party Sellers
We source and sell a broad range of products to our customers worldwide across dozens of product
categories. Through Amazon Services, we offer Amazon Marketplace and Merchants@ programs that enable
third parties to sell their products on our websites, allow customers to shop for products owned by third parties
using our features and technologies, and allow individuals to complete transactions that include multiple sellers
in a single checkout process. We are not the seller of record in these third-party seller transactions, but instead
earn fixed fees, sales commissions, per-unit activity fees, or some combination thereof.
Amazon Marketplace generally serves individuals and small businesses, enabling them to offer their
products for sale on our websites alongside our products and products made available by other third-party sellers.
Our Merchants@ program generally serves larger, branded businesses and is primarily focused on expanding the
selection of new products available on our websites. We also offer fulfillment-related services to third-party
sellers through Fulfillment by Amazon.
Our retail and third-party seller businesses relentlessly focus on customer experience by offering our retail
customers a wide selection of merchandise, low prices, and convenience.
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