Amazon at 30: A brief history of the e-commerce giant

7/8/24 10:18AM

Life and Primes

Depending on which millennial you ask, turning 30 in 2024 seems like a pretty good (or pretty daunting) opportunity to reflect... for Jeff Bezos’s ~$2 trillion baby, the financial results are more pleasing than most.

Since launching as an online bookstore on July 5th 1994, Amazon has seen its revenues grow every single year, becoming a one-stop online shop for hundreds of millions of customers around the world. In fact, in the last 25 years, the company has grown at an astonishing CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 31.5% — the equivalent of doubling its revenue approximately every two and a half years.

All of that revenue growth has translated into AMZN becoming one of the biggest businesses in the world, its share price having soared more than 220,000% at the time of writing since it went public in 1997.

The everything store

It’s impossible here to unpack the boxed-up behemoth that is Amazon, but even the most whistle-stop tour of its history reveals many chapters that would, by themselves, dominate the stories of most other businesses.

In 2005, for example, Amazon launched its Prime subscription service, which has since been hailed as “the internet’s most successful and devastating membership program”. Just one year later, the company introduced Amazon Web Services, its cloud computing division that provides servers, storage, and basically everything else to some of the world’s most visited online real estate — the division accounted for 67% of its $37B operating profit last year.

Today, Amazon negotiates a trickier e-commerce landscape. Its forays into advertising have been wildly profitable, but the company still continues to struggle with long-standing issues like its huge global workforce’s unionization efforts, as well as newer battles too. China’s online marketplace phenomenon Temu, for instance, has quickly become serious competition, forcing Amazon to reportedly make plans to emulate the platform.

Max Knoblauch10/16/25

Uber launches “digital tasks” in the US, paying some drivers to train AI

Beginning later this fall, US Uber drivers will be able to earn money by completing short “digital tasks” like uploading restaurant menus or recording audio samples.

CEO Dara Khosrowshahi teased the new gig income stream back in June at the Bloomberg Tech conference.

At that time, Khosrowshahi said drivers and couriers were “labeling maps, translating language, looking at AI answers, and grading AI answers.” According to Thursday’s announcement, the tasks won’t be so focused on Uber’s business, but instead on connecting workers with “companies that need real people to help improve their technology.”

Per Uber, digital tasks can be done when drivers aren’t on a trip, be it at home or when not driving, and will take only “a few minutes” each.

Uber’s having drivers train its AI while partnering with robotaxi companies that could replace them

Per Uber, digital tasks can be done when drivers aren’t on a trip, be it at home or when not driving, and will take only “a few minutes” each.

Max Knoblauch

10/15/25

United Airlines posts stronger-than-expected profit but weaker sales in its third quarter

United’s full-year profit outlook falls somewhere in between the dual forecasts it issued back in April.

United Airlines Airplanes at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey

Hyunsoo Rim, David Crowther

HEAD OF MACROS

10/15/25

Pop-Tarts, Doritos, and Uncrustables have joined the protein craze taking over America’s snack aisle

Food giants are catching up with the latest diet obsession.

Apple TV dropped the “plus” as streamers keep pulling back on originals

After the spray-and-pray approach led to a wave of cancellations, Hollywood is settling into an era of just making fewer shows.

Hyunsoo Rim10/15/25

Max Knoblauch10/14/25

The average price of a new vehicle in the US passed $50,000 for the first time ever in September

The average price of a new vehicle in the US surpassed $50,000 in September, according to Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book.

At $50,080, that’s the highest industry average ever, reflecting the price hikes faced by new car buyers in recent years amid pandemic supply shortages, tariff-induced increases, and the high cost of EV production. The figure marks a 3.6% jump from the same month last year.

“Tariffs have introduced new cost pressure to the business, but the pricing story in September was mostly driven by the healthy mix of EVs and higher-end vehicles pushing the new-vehicle ATP into uncharted territory,” Cox executive analyst Erin Keating said. Passing the $50,000 mark was inevitable, Keating said, especially considering that the country’s bestseller is a Ford truck that “routinely costs north of $65,000.”

Year over year, new vehicle prices rose nearly 6% for GM, while Ford’s climbed 2.5%. Volkswagen new prices were up 12.5%.

As prices climb, so do delinquencies on loans to borrowers with lower credit scores. Recent data from Fitch Ratings shows the portion of subprime US auto loans 60 days or more overdue reached 6.43% in August.