Amazon.com, Inc., is an American electronic commerce and cloud computing company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Jeff Bezos on July 5, 1994, as an online bookstore, Amazon went public after an initial public offering on May 15, 1997, during the midst of the dot-com bubble. The funds gained from the IPO allowed Amazon to grow quickly, making its first three acquisitions on April 27, 1998, less than a year after the company had gone public.