The company, that was initially launched as an online bookstore, now has diversified across multiple business sectors. Amazon even acquired Whole Foods Markets, entering the grocery industry. It also produces movies, has a publishing space called CreateSpace and a virtual assistant Alexa. The company seems to be ever evolving and innovating, which is one of the reasons why the investors value its shares so much.”They have given investors confidence that they can go and disrupt markets just like they’ve done with retail,”- says Gene Munster from Loup Ventures. Michael Lippert, the manager of Baron capital also commented on the issue saying: “They’ve proven they can make it work. They’re spending a lot on all these things to build and enforce their competitive advantages.”
These undertakings by the company often prove to be successful. In 2006 the company launched Amazon Web Services which provides on-demand cloud computing platforms to companies as well as individuals and even governments. This service has proven especially successful as it has shown a large growth in the recent times. “Yes, Amazon did really well in online retail, but then the stock gapped up when they showed that they could become successful in cloud. It’s almost like the ticker changed from AMZN to AWS,” – commented Mark Mahaney, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets. It was also a large part of the reason why the stock of Amazon increased by 75% this year adding a value of $430 billion to the company. To put this number in perspective, that is the combined value of companies like Walmart, Starbucks and Costco Wholesale.