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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 opened its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and we offer Earth’s Biggest
Selection. We seek to be Earth’s most customer-centric company for three primary customer sets: consumer
customers, seller customers and developer customers. In addition, we generate revenue through co-branded credit
card agreements and other marketing and promotional services, such as online advertising.
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.
Consumer Customers
We serve our consumer customers through our retail websites and focus on selection, price, and
convenience. We design our websites to enable millions of unique products to be sold by us and by third parties
across dozens of product categories. We strive to offer our customers the lowest prices possible through low
everyday product pricing and free shipping offers, including Amazon Prime, and to improve our operating
efficiencies so that we can continue to lower prices for our customers. We also provide easy-to-use functionality,
fast and reliable fulfillment through our global fulfillment center network, timely customer service, and a trusted
transaction environment.
We fulfill customer orders in a number of ways, including through the U.S. and international fulfillment
centers and warehouses that we operate and through co-sourced and outsourced arrangements in certain
countries. We operate customer service centers globally, which are supplemented by co-sourced arrangements.
See Item 2 of Part I, “Properties.”
Seller Customers
We offer programs that enable seller customers to sell their products on our websites and their own branded
websites and to fulfill orders through us. We are not the seller of record in these transactions, but instead earn
fixed fees, revenue share fees, per-unit activity fees, or some combination thereof.
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