Amazon touches $1 trillion on rapid growth in retail, cloud computing; on pace to overtake Apple

Amazon.com Inc on Tuesday briefly joined Apple Inc to become the second $1 trillion publicly listed US company after its stock price more than doubled in a year as it grew rapidly in retail and cloud computing. Its shares traded as high as $2,050.50 before easing a little to end the session at $2,039.51, up 1.3 percent and just short of the milestone level of $2,050.2677. If the online retailer’s shares keep up their recent pace, it would be a matter of when, not if, Amazon’s stock market valuation eclipses that of iPhone maker Apple, which reached $1 trillion on 2 August. [caption id=“attachment_4501191” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representative image. Reuters[/caption] Apple took almost 38 years as a public company to achieve the trillion dollar milestone, while Amazon got there in 21 years. While Apple’s iPhone and other devices remain popular and its revenues are growing, it is not keeping up with Amazon’s blistering sales growth. Amazon has impressed investors by diversifying into virtually every corner of the retail industry, altering how consumers buy products and putting big pressure on many brick-and-mortar stores. “It says a lot about Amazon and its ever-increasing dominance of segments of the retailing world as well as the web services business,” said Peter Tuz, President Of Chase Investment Counsel In Charlottesville, Virginia. “They have a tiny share of the worldwide retail sales market so there’s a lot left to capture there.”