Amazon went public on May 15, 1997, it took the company 18 years to catch Walmart in market value. In the next two years, Amazon became more valuable than Walmart. Today, the company twice as much. On May 15, 2017, 20th years of 20th anniversary of its IPO, Amazon’s market cap was at $459 billion and Walmart’s $228 billion.
While Walmart’s annual revenue and net income way higher than Amazon, more than three times and five times respectively, but Amazon has continued to grow its revenue more than 20% that impressed Wall Street has largely than huge net income.
Bonus: Over the past years, Amazon has seen its share of struggle and hardships. Part of the story can be found in Bran Stone’s 2013 best seller The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon.
