Amazon became the fifth company in history to cross a $3 trillion market capitalization, joining Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia and Alphabet after shares jumped more than 15% in the session following its second-quarter earnings report and extended those gains the next day. The stock closed at a record $284.02, pushing the company into rarefied territory it had never reached before.
The catalyst wasn't Amazon's retail business — it was AWS. The cloud division posted $42.2 billion in quarterly revenue, growing 37% year-over-year, its fastest pace in 18 quarters, and beat Wall Street's consensus estimate by roughly $1.7 billion. Total company revenue hit $200.6 billion, up 20% from a year earlier and the first time Amazon has ever crossed $200 billion in a single quarter, while operating income jumped 43% to $27.5 billion.
A Milestone Reached Twice as Fast
Amazon needed just over two years to add its third trillion dollars in value, after taking more than six years to go from $1 trillion to $2 trillion — a gap that underscores how sharply AI-driven demand has accelerated the company's growth. AWS alone now carries a $496 billion order backlog, and CEO Andy Jassy has been vocal that AI workloads are central to the unit's momentum, even as memory costs push up spending.
The company raised its 2026 capital expenditure guidance to roughly $220 billion, up from an earlier forecast near $200 billion, citing continued investment in AI infrastructure and rising component costs.
Bezos Sells Into the Rally
The milestone came with an ironic twist: founder Jeff Bezos filed to sell 15 million shares worth about $4.07 billion under a pre-scheduled Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, his third such sale in just over a year following disposals in June 2025 and November 2024. CNBC's Jim Cramer summed up the mixed reaction on social media, calling the timing "a buzzkill" even while acknowledging investors couldn't fault Bezos for following a plan set months in advance.
The sale briefly rattled the stock, pulling it back about 2% from its high, though analysts widely described the move as fundamentally neutral given Bezos still holds roughly 869 million shares, or about 8.1% of the company.
What Comes Next
Wall Street remains largely bullish. JPMorgan raised its price target on Amazon to $365, and several analysts have framed the $3 trillion mark as a milestone rather than a ceiling, pointing to AWS's growing backlog and Amazon's advertising business as further catalysts. The bigger question, they note, is whether rising AI infrastructure costs can keep converting into profit at the pace investors are now pricing in.