Amazon’s Biggest Acquisitions

Amazon’s largest acquisition to date is grocery chain Whole Foods in 2017 for $13.7 billion. This provided physical retail presence and customer insights to complement their ecommerce business.

Top 10 Amazon Deals by Value:

• Whole Foods – $13.7 billion (Food, 2017)
• MGM Studios – $8.5 billion (Media, 2021)
• Zoox – $1.2 billion (Automotive Tech, 2020)
• Zappos – $1.2 billion (Ecommerce, 2009)
• Ring – $970 million (Home Security, 2018)
• Twitch – $970 million (Live Streaming, 2014)
• Kiva Systems – $775 million (Robotics, 2012)
• PillPack – $753 million (Healthtech, 2018)
• Souq – $580 million (Ecommerce, 2017)
• Quidsi – $545 million (Ecommerce, 2010)

With major moves into groceries, media, cloud services and healthtech, Amazon dominates multiple emerging tech sectors through strategic mega-deals.

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List of Companies owned by Amazon: Founded in 1994 as an online bookstore, Amazon has grown into a global e-commerce and cloud computing giant. After going public in 1997 amid the dot-com boom, Amazon used IPO funds to begin acquiring companies. However, the 2000 dot-com crash severely impacted Amazon and its investments. To survive, Amazon limited acquisitions from 2000-2004.

Expansion resumed in 2005 with major digital and media deals. In 2011, Amazon shifted its acquisition strategy to technology startups – especially in voice computing and cloud services. This diversification peaked with 2017’s $13.7 billion purchase of grocery chain Whole Foods – Amazon’s largest deal ever. Through shifts in acquisition focus, Amazon successfully transformed itself from a niche online bookseller to an e-commerce conglomerate.

Today, Amazon’s empire spans web services, digital media, artificial intelligence, and logistics infrastructure among other sectors – built in part through strategic and timely acquisitions over its 28-year journey.