Amazon overtakes Microsoft, becomes world's biggest private company

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Representational Image
Representational Image

New Delhi : Amazon, the giant ecommerce company has achieved the tag of world's biggest company in terms of market capitalization, overtaking Microsoft and other leading tech organizations worldwide.

The online sales goliath assumed the top spot after notching a 3.4 percent gain to finish with a market capitalization of $796.8 billion, about $13.2 billion more than Microsoft.

Controlled by Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, Amazon has touched remarkable growth as its business has spread beyond its origins as an online bookseller to myriad other retail categories. Now, the revenue graph shows an elevation from $74.5 billion in 2013 to $177.9 billion last year and is projected to reach $232.3 billion in 2018.

Sources confirmed that Amazon's market capitalization stands well below its own peak in September, when it crossed $1 trillion before Wall Street's late-2018 selloff. 

It’s worth mentioning that Apple, for long time has been world's biggest company by market capitalization but lost the title in late November and is currently fourth with $702 billion, behind Amazon, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet, which has a value of $745.2 billion.

Initially, Amazon used to sell books online throughout the U.S and went public in early 1997. The company for more than a decade put growth over profit, investing heavily in warehouses, distribution networks, and data centers.

The landmark moves of Amazon include the $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods Market in 2017, which brought it an extensive network of brick-and-mortar stores for the first time. Also, the company emerged as a major creator of original entertainment content, netting acting awards for Amazon original series at Hollywood's Golden Globe Awards.