Amazon reaches ranks of $1 trillion companies

Online shopping giant follows Apple

New York — Amazon on Tuesday became the second publicly traded company to reach $1 trillion in market value, hot on the heels of iPhone maker Apple.

The milestone is another sign of Amazon’s swift rise from an online bookseller to a behemoth that sells toilet paper, TVs and just about anything. In its two decades, Amazon has expanded far beyond online shopping and into health care, advertising and cloud computing.

Its growth has boosted the fortunes of its founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos. His 16 percent stake in Amazon is now worth more than $160 billion. Forbes magazine placed him at the top of its list of billionaires for the first time this year, surpassing Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett.

Amazon’s stock has increased almost 600 percent in the last five years, including a more than 70 percent surge so far in 2018 alone. On Tuesday morning, the stock climbed enough to push the company’s valuation pass the $1 trillion mark, although it dropped back slightly after that. The stock closed at $2,039.51 Tuesday, about $11 short of keeping its valuation above $1 trillion.

Apple topped the $1 trillion mark in early August. Saudi Arabia’s national energy company, Aramco, is widely believed to be worth much more than either Amazon or Apple.

Amazon’s growing power has made it a target of politicians. President Donald Trump has said the company should pay the U.S. Postal Service more in shipping costs. And U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders has frequently noted the disparity between what Amazon’s warehouse workers make and Bezos’ vast fortune.