Amazon passes $1 trillion market valuation

In this morning's trading, Amazon became the second US company to pass a total market value of $1 trillion (£779bn), before slipping back under. At the start of the year, Amazon's market value was around £580bn.

The online retail giant follows in the footsteps of Apple, which hit the milestone last month.

During its last quarter, Amazon reported sales of almost $53bn, advising of $2.5bn in profits - a company record.

In addition to online sales of goods and a platform for third party retailers to do the same, Amazon also offers a variety of services, including Amazon Web Services - cloud computing and data servers - as well as finance, logistics and storage.

Amazon recently caught the attention of retailers and analysts when it was revealed that it has made 'aggressive' bids for a number of Homebase stores which are set to be closed as a result of the beleaguered DIY retailer's CVA proposal. 

Amazon's CEO, Jeff Bezos, is the world's wealthiest man, with an estimated net worth that exceeds $160bn. 

Howard Silverblatt, an analyst for S&P, said that Amazon and Apple combined, now make up more than 8% of the value of the S&P 500.

Source : Insight DIY 

For all the very latest news and intelligence on the UK's largest home improvement and garden retailers, sign up for the Insight DIY weekly newsletter.