Amazon.com, Inc. is currently the world’s largest e-commerce website. Jeff Bezos founded it in 1994. Ever since then, the company has grown in terms of its market and capital.

What companies does Amazon own? Amazon has acquired many companies throughout the years and now owns several companies under its umbrella.

Amazon has acquired many companies. Some Amazon subsidiaries are listed below:

The media and entertainment companies owned by Amazon are Twitch, Echo, Kindle Direct Publishing, Wondery, GoodReads, IMDb, Box Office Mojo, University Esports, Amazon Publishing, MGM Holdings, Prime Video, IMDb, Brilliance Publishing, ComiXology, Amazon Music, Freevee, Audible, Graphiq, and Amazon Studios.

The e-commerce companies owned by Amazon are Amazon Appstore, 1-Click, Woot, Amazon Marketplace, Zappos, Prime, Amazon Cash, Amazon Digital Software & Video Games, AbeBooks, Amazon Appstore, Amazon Cash, Amazon Digital Software & Video Games, Amazon Marketplace, Book Depository, Shopbop, Amazon Pay, and Kindle Store.

Then, Amazon's grocery and retail chains are Amazon Fresh, Treasure Truck, Amazon Go, and Whole Foods Market.

Also, the healthcare companies owned by Amazon are PillPack and Amazon Pharmacy.

Other tech companies owned by Amazon are Ring, Alexa, Amazon Aurora, Mechanical Turk, Simple Queue Service, Amazon Fire, Blink, Elastic Compute Cloud, Elastic File System, Fire TV, Kindle, Amazon Halo, Amazon Luna, Astro, Eero, Amazon Web Services, Amazon Glacier, Amazon Neptune, Amazon Product Advertising API, Zoox, Amazon Redshift, Amazon Rekognition, SageMaker, SimpleDB, ElastiCache, AWS Lambda, CloudFront, DynamoDB, Elastic Beanstalk, Elastic Block Store, Simple Notification Service, Virtual Private Cloud, Amazon Machine Image, Kuiper Systems, and Amazon RDS.

Whole Foods Market

Amazon acquired Whole Foods Market on Aug. 28, 2017. Whole Foods Market is a grocery chain known for its organic and sustainable stores. Further, the food sold by this company is ethically-sourced and organic.

Amazon acquired the company for $13.7 billion. Also, it is Amazon’s most expensive acquisition. But, the returns have not been great after the purchase.

Twitch

Twitch is a live-streaming app owned by Amazon. Here, players, streamers, games, etc., come together to talk, interact, play games, and have a good time.

Amazon acquired Twitch in 2014 for $970 million. Also, Twitch has been successful since the beginning, even before Amazon acquired it. Acquiring Twitch helped Amazon get into the gaming and live-streaming world.

Audible

Audible is the most significant name in the audio entertainment industry. Amazon acquired Audible for $300 million in 2008. Also, Audible’s wide range of audiobooks, podcasts, and other audio content, huge audience, and many devices, made this acquisition unbeatable in the audio entertainment area.

Thus, Amazon strategically acquired a top place in the growing audiobook industry. So, it became unbeatable in yet another field of entertainment.

GoodReads

Amazon acquired GoodReads in 2013 for a sum of money that wasn’t disclosed. Thus, by acquiring GoodReads, Amazon established itself as a powerful competitor in the literature and books industry. It also led to the development of an interest in Amazon among readers.

Also, Amazon linked GoodReads to Kindle and Amazon Shopping App. So, when people saw a book review, Amazon redirected them to Kindle and Amazon shopping Apps. Thus, the sales of books increased. Along with it, increased GoodReads’ members.

IMDb

Amazon acquired IMDb along with TeleBook and BookPages for $55 million 1998. The Internet Movie Database(IMDb) has a catalog of movies and TV shows, ratings, reviews, cast and crew information, plot summaries, trivia, etc.

So, when Amazon acquired IMDb, Amazon was able to mark its place in the digital entertainment industry as well. Also, IMDb has grown ever since the acquisition and remains one of Amazon’s most successful subsidiaries.

Zappos

Zappos, the online footwear and clothing brand, was acquired by Amazon for $1.2 billion in 2009. Further, Zappos is known for its customer service and is a popular online brand.

So, when Amazon acquired Zappos, it brought its high reputation in the online clothing retailer field. Thus, Amazon also established itself as a big name in the fashion world through this acquisition.

So, Zappos used Amazon’s large customer base, and Amazon used Zappos’ unbeatable customer service and reputation. Thus, this helped both brands.

Amazon Fresh

Amazon launched Amazon Fresh in 2007 as a grocery delivery service for Prime members. Then, it extended to all customers. Now, Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market dominate the online grocery retail area.

Also, Amazon Fresh uses Amazon’s extensive delivery system to deliver groceries to the comfort of our homes. So, now it even provides groceries the same day or the next day in some areas.

Thus, with Amazon Fresh's launch and Whole Foods Market's acquisition, Amazon now dominates the online grocery retailing industry.

MGM Holdings

MGM Holdings is part of MGM Studios. Also, MGM Studios has the ownership of the greatest movies in the history of Hollywood. Amazon acquired MGM Holdings for $8.5 billion in 2021.

The deal got confirmed in March 2022. Also, this is Amazon’s second-largest acquisition after Whole Foods Market.

Also, this acquisition will help Amazon to improve its intellectual property rights and enhance Amazon Prime’s content. Thus, this will help Amazon Prime to compete against other streaming platforms.

AbeBooks

AbeBooks is an online marketplace for old and new books, antiques, art pieces, and collectibles. Amazon acquired AbeBooks in 2008 for $90-$120 million.

AbeBooks provides a platform for readers and sellers to discuss the book's condition before buying it. AbeBooks is known for its customer service. Thus, Amazon also secured its place in the online fine arts and books marketplace.

PillPack

Amazon acquired PillPack for $753 million in 2018. PillPack is a very popular name in the pharmacy industry. PillPack functions virtually.

After the acquisition, amazon also established itself as a big name in the pharmacy industry. Pillpack used amazons extensive delivery system to deliver medicines directly to customers’ homes.

Thus, both Amazon and PillPack benefitted from the acquisition.

GoodThreads

GoodThreads is a very popular name in the fashion industry. This acquisition helped Amazon establish itself better in the fashion world. GoodThreads used Amazon’s large customer base, while Amazon used Goodthreads’ brand value.

FAQs

1. Which companies does Amazon own?

Amazon owns several companies. Some are Whole Foods Market, Twitch, Audible, GoodReads, IMDb, Zappos, Amazon Fresh, MGM Holdings, AbeBooks, PillPack, and Goodthreads.

1. What company did Amazon buy recently?

Amazon bought MGM Holdings in 2021. The deal was finalized in 2022.

1. Who are the largest shareholders of Amazon?

Amazon's largest shareholders are Jeff Bezos, Andrew Jassy, and Douglas Herrington.

1. Who is the CEO of Amazon?

Andrew R. Jassy is the CEO of Amazon.

Thus, Amazon is the world’s largest e-commerce company. It owns multiple companies and has launched several brands under its umbrella. Amazon’s subsidiaries include Whole Foods Market, Twitch, Audible, GoodReads, IMDb, Zappos, Amazon Fresh, MGM Holdings, AbeBooks, PillPack, and Goodthreads.

Amazon makes acquisitions of various companies. It has established itself as one of the greatest competitors in every single field in the retail industry.