List of Companies owned by Amazon
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.
Table of Content
- History of Amazon
- Amazon’s Biggest Acquisitions
- List of Companies Owned by Amazon
- Top Companies Owned By Amazon
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
History of Amazon
Amazon was founded in 1994 in Bellevue, Washington by Jeff Bezos. His then-wife MacKenzie Scott was also instrumental in kickstarting operations in Amazon’s early days.
The company began as an humble online book marketplace. Over nearly three decades, it has tremendously diversified its business offerings.
Today, Amazon has established itself as a global, multi-sector conglomerate spanning:
- Online retail across product categories
- Cloud computing services
- Supermarket chains
- Consumer technology devices
- Media production and more
But it all started from modest beginnings – an idea from Jeff Bezos to sell books online fueled by dedication from early employees and family. This seed has now blossomed into one of the world’s most valuable companies.
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.
Also Read About: Top 10 Applications of Robotics in 2024
List of Companies Owned by Amazon
Here’s the list of all the companies owned by Amazon:
Number |
Company |
Acquired On |
---|---|---|
1 |
Bookpages |
April 27, 1998 |
2 |
Telebook |
April 27, 1998 |
3 |
IMDb |
April 27, 1998 |
4 |
Junglee |
August 4, 1998 |
5 |
PlanetAll |
August 4, 1998 |
6 |
LiveBid.com |
April 12, 1999 |
7 |
Accept.com |
April 27, 1999 |
8 |
Alexa Internet |
April 27, 1999 |
9 |
e-Niche Incorporated |
April 27, 1999 |
10 |
Convergence Corporation |
October 4, 1999 |
11 |
Tool Crib of the North |
November 9, 1999 |
12 |
Back to Basics Toys |
November 30, 1999 |
13 |
Leep Technology Inc. |
December 31, 1999 |
14 |
MindCorps Incorporated |
1999 |
15 |
Egghead Software |
December 5, 2001 |
16 |
OurHouse.com |
December 2001 |
17 |
Joyo.com |
August 19, 2004 |
18 |
BookSurge |
April 4, 2005 |
19 |
Mobipocket |
April 21, 2005 |
20 |
CustomFlix |
July 6, 2005 |
21 |
smallparts.com |
2005 |
22 |
Shopbop |
February 27, 2006 |
23 |
TextPayMe |
October 1, 2006 |
24 |
Digital Photography Review |
May 14, 2007 |
25 |
Brilliance Audio |
May 23, 2007 |
26 |
Withoutabox |
January 16, 2008 |
27 |
Audible |
January 28, 2008 |
28 |
Fabric.com |
June 25, 2008 |
29 |
AbeBooks |
August 1, 2008 |
30 |
Shelfari |
August 26, 2008 |
31 |
Reflexive Entertainment |
October 21, 2008 |
32 |
Box Office Mojo |
December 17, 2008 |
33 |
Lexcycle |
April 27, 2009 |
34 |
SnapTell |
June 18, 2009 |
35 |
Zappos |
November 2, 2009 |
36 |
Touchco |
February 3, 2010 |
37 |
Woot |
July 2, 2010 |
38 |
Amie Street |
September 8, 2010 |
39 |
BuyVIP |
October 4, 2010 |
40 |
Quidsi |
November 8, 2010 |
41 |
Toby Press |
November 18, 2010 |
42 |
LoveFilm |
January 20, 2011 |
43 |
The Book Depository |
July 4, 2011 |
44 |
Pushbutton |
July 28, 2011 |
45 |
Yap |
September 2011 |
46 |
Double Helix Games |
September 5, 2011 |
47 |
Teachstreet |
February 2, 2012 |
48 |
Kiva Systems |
March 19, 2012 |
49 |
Evi |
April 17, 2012 |
50 |
Avalon Books |
April 17, 2012 |
51 |
UpNext |
July 2, 2012 |
52 |
IVONA Software |
January 24, 2013 |
53 |
Goodreads |
March 28, 2013 |
54 |
Liquavista |
May 13, 2013 |
55 |
TenMarks Education, Inc. |
October 10, 2013 |
56 |
ComiXology |
April 10, 2014 |
57 |
Amiato |
May 2014 |
58 |
Twitch Interactive |
August 25, 2014 |
59 |
Rooftop Media |
August 25, 2014 |
60 |
GoodGame |
December 9, 2014 |
61 |
Annapurna Labs |
January 22, 2015 |
62 |
2lemetry |
March 12, 2015 |
63 |
Shoefitr |
April 10, 2015 |
64 |
ClusterK |
April 29, 2015 |
65 |
AppThwack |
July 14, 2015 |
66 |
Elemental Technologies |
September 3, 2015 |
67 |
Safaba Translation Systems |
September 25, 2015 |
68 |
Biba Systems |
September 2015 |
69 |
Orbeus |
December 1, 2015 |
70 |
Colis Privé |
January 11, 2016 |
71 |
NICE |
February 12, 2016 |
72 |
Emvantage Payments |
February 16, 2016 |
73 |
Cloud9 IDE |
July 14, 2016 |
74 |
Curse, Inc. |
August 16, 2016 |
75 |
Westland |
October 28, 2016 |
76 |
Partpic |
November 2, 2016 |
77 |
harvest.ai |
January 9, 2017 |
78 |
Thinkbox Software |
March 6, 2017 |
79 |
Do.com |
March 8, 2017 |
80 |
Whole Foods Market |
June 16, 2017 |
81 |
Souq.com |
July 3, 2017 |
82 |
Graphiq |
July 20, 2017 |
83 |
GameSparks |
July 28, 2017 |
84 |
Wing.ae |
September 6, 2017 |
85 |
Body Labs |
October 3, 2017 |
86 |
Goo Technologies |
November 28, 2017 |
87 |
Dispatch |
November 2017 |
88 |
Blink Home |
December 2017 |
89 |
Sqrrl |
January 23, 2018 |
90 |
Ring |
February 27, 2018 |
91 |
PillPack |
June 28, 2018 |
92 |
Tapzo |
August 28, 2018 |
93 |
CloudEndure |
January 10, 2019 |
94 |
TSO Logic |
January 14, 2019 |
95 |
Eero |
February 11, 2019 |
96 |
Canvas Technology |
April 10, 2019 |
97 |
Sizmek Ad Server and Sizmek Dynamic… |
May 31, 2019 |
98 |
Bebo |
June 18, 2019 |
99 |
E8 Storage |
July 31, 2019 |
100 |
IGDB |
September 17, 2019 |
101 |
INLT |
September 24, 2019 |
102 |
Zoox |
June 26, 2020 |
103 |
Wondery |
December 30, 2020 |
104 |
Umbra 3D |
January 22, 2021 |
105 |
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
May 26, 2021 |
106 |
Art19 |
June 24, 2021 |
107 |
Wickr |
June 25, 2021 |
108 |
Veeqo |
November 1, 2021 |
109 |
Strio.AI |
March 7, 2022 |
110 |
GlowRoad |
April 21, 2022 |
111 |
One Medical |
July 21, 2022 |
112 |
Cloostermans |
September 9, 2022 |
113 |
Spirit.ai |
November 22, 2022 |
114 |
Fig |
August 28, 2023 |
Top Companies Owned By Amazon
Amazon undoubtedly dominates as the world’s largest online retailer for books, electronics, home essentials and almost anything imaginable at competitive rates. However, over its 28-year journey, Amazon has strategically acquired major consumer brands across diverse sectors.
The above comprise just a few of the household names that now reside within Amazon’s expanding empire, alongside Amazon Web Services cloud computing arm. Through key mergers spanning retail, media, technology and healthcare, Amazon has gradually built outstanding vertical depth and remarkable influence across industries.
1. Whole Foods
- Founded in 1978 as SaferWay, Whole Foods Market is the largest organic food retailer in the US, Canada and UK with over 500 stores. Pre-acquisition, Whole Foods was an independent public company valued at nearly $10 billion.
- When Amazon acquired Whole Foods for $13.7 billion in 2017 – its largest deal ever – it marked Amazon’s inaugural foray into physical grocery retail.
- The move aligned with Amazon’s strategy to integrate offline and online shopping. Post-merger, Amazon lowered Whole Foods’ prices, shed its “Whole Paycheck” image and interlinked Prime member perks across its ecommerce platform and Whole Foods store network.
- The blockbuster Whole Foods deal landed Amazon an established brand, vast real estate and direct access to high-value shoppers as it accelerates its footprint in grocery ecommerce alongside brick-and-mortar sales.
- The synergies continue to evolve three years later as Amazon leverages the merger to reimagine the next generation phydigital retail experience.
2. Zappos
- Zappos began in 1999 as Shoesite.com – an online retailer specialized in footwear and apparel. It was renamed after the Spanish word for shoes ‘zapatos’ shortly after.
- Within a decade, Zappos had become a major player still operating independently. However, in 2009 Amazon acquired the company through a cash and stock deal totaling $1.2 billion by closing.
- Reports indicate Amazon initially saw Zappos as a threat. It tried acquiring Zappos unsuccessfully in 2007 before launching its own Endless.com shoe ecommerce portal. However, by 2012 Amazon had to shut Endless while committing completely to growing Zappos.
- For Amazon, bringing Zappos into its fold in 2009 marked its first billion-dollar acquisition while neutralizing a competitor. It provided Amazon an established fashion ecommerce brand and access to the lucrative apparel segment beyond just books and electronics.
- Now wholly owned by Amazon, Zappos does over $2 billion in yearly revenues upselling shoes and clothing to style-focused shoppers through superior customer service and loyalty perks.
3. PillPack
- PillPack, founded in 2013, is an online pharmacy that pre-sorts medications by dose and delivers to customers’ homes.
- In 2018, Amazon acquired PillPack for $753 million seeking to aggressively expand into pharmaceutical ecommerce and delivery in the United States.
- Post-acquisition, PillPack continues to operate as an independent brand under Amazon, leveraging expansive fulfillment infrastructure for convenient overnight shipping of medications nationwide.
- The merger provided Amazon deep expertise in handling prescriptions through an existing team while enabling PillPack to scale rapidly. It signaled ominous competition for traditional pharmacies.
- Together with Amazon’s vast reach and logistics network, PillPack poses to disrupt pharmacy chains by facilitating seamless medicine procurement and adherence via web and mobile apps.
- The deal marked another major investment, after WholeFoods and Zappos, in adding new high-value verticals to Amazon’s burgeoning commerce empire.
4. Twitch Interactive
- Twitch is a live video streaming platform for gamers. It allows people to broadcast their gameplay in real-time for audiences to interact and watch.
- Launched in 2011, Twitch had cultivated a devoted community of over 55 million monthly viewers by 2014. It was especially dominant among popular genres like eSports tournaments.
- In 2014, Amazon acquired Twitch for $970 million to deep dive into video games and harness web streaming – two fast-growing entertainment mediums.
- Bringing Twitch’s passionate gaming fanbase into the fold presented Amazon cross-selling opportunities and better engagement of young consumers. As part of Amazon, Twitch has continued to grow its monthly active user base while collaborating with Prime on premium content and shopping perks.
- For Amazon, the Twitch deal marked a foray into endemic, gaming-specific video verticals and communities for long-term competitive advantage.
5. IMDb
Launched in 1990, IMDb (Internet Movie Database) is a exhaustive online encyclopedia for films and TV shows. It provides:
- Plot summaries and analysis
- Cast/crew profiles
- User reviews and ratings
- Parents guides with age ratings
Trivia and technical specifications
In 1998, a fledgling Amazon acquired IMDb for $55 million through a three-company deal. IMDb became one of the first and most prominent additions to Amazon’s portfolio.
The acquisition provided rich metadata on actors, movies and shows. Besides drawing advertisers for Amazon’s websites, data synergies significantly benefited recommendations on Amazon marketplaces over the years.
Now wholly owned by Amazon, IMDb remains a definitive destination for information on entertainment titles consumed by millions monthly even today after almost 25 years – making it among Amazon’s most successful purchases driving long-term value.
Company Name |
Acquired In |
Founder |
---|---|---|
Whole Foods |
June 16, 2017 |
John Mackey |
Zappos |
November 2, 2009 |
Nick Swinmurn |
PillPack |
June 28, 2018 |
TJ Parker and Elliot Cohen |
Twitch Interactive |
August 25, 2014 |
Emmett Shear, Justin Kan, Michael Seibel, Kyle Vogt |
IMDb |
April 27, 1998 |
Col Needham |
Conclusion
Amazon has become ubiquitous as the world’s largest online retailer offering competitive pricing on virtually anything. However, many popular consumer brands across diverse sectors also reside within Amazon’s portfolio.
So next time you come across a brand name online or in the real world, there’s a chance it is now an Amazon subsidiary powering wider ambitions. The company has implemented quiet yet calculated moves to slowly capture diverse consumer segments and channels outside its original online retail identify.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Which companies does Amazon own?
Amazon has more than 100 subsidiaries under its umbrella, including well-known names like Amazon Web Services, Audible, Diapers.com, Goodreads, IMDb, Kiva Systems (now Amazon Robotics), One Medical, Shopbop, Teachstreet, Twitch, Zappos, and Zoox.
Does Amazon have ownership of Google?
No, Amazon does not own Google. Google is under the parent holding company known as Alphabet.
How many companies does Jeff Bezos possess?
Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon and widely recognized as the richest person globally, boasts an estimated net worth of US$129.9 billion. He made history by becoming the first person to surpass the US$100 billion mark.
Who are the owners of Amazon?
The Bezos family, particularly Jeff Bezos and his former wife Mackenzie Scott, co-founded Amazon. They are a notable American family deeply involved in both business and philanthropy.
Who holds the largest ownership stake in Amazon?
Even after recent sales, Jeff Bezos maintains the position as the largest shareholder of Amazon, owning a 9.56% stake. Institutional investors and index funds, such as Vanguard, Invesco (IVZ), and Fidelity (FIS), follow as the next significant stakeholders.
Contact Us