Amazon sits at the $2 trillion table

Amazon joined the $2 trillion club alongside tech giants like Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet and Microsoft after its shares surged 3.9% to $193.61 on Wednesday. CEO Andy Jassy credits artificial intelligence (AI) and its cloud business growth for the milestone.

Over the past year, Amazon’s stock surged 52%, driven partly by its $4 billion investments in Anthropic to develop foundation models for generative AI systems and design its own chips.

In April, the company reported strong revenue and profits for the first quarter, bolstered by growth in Amazon Web Services (AWS), its core retail business and advertising.

Amazon’s market cap first hit $1 trillion in 2018 and again in 2020, taking over four years to reach $2 trillion.

Additionally, Amazon has cut costs significantly, laying off over 27,000 corporate employees since late 2022.