Amazon is an American technology company and is one of the most honored brands in the world. Its prime areas are artificial intelligence, digital streaming, and e-commerce. Its website name is amazon.com. It provides services in various fields like amazon music, amazon prime video, amazon pharmacy, amazon games, and amazon shopping. On the other hand, Netflix is also an American company that offers films and television shows in various languages across the globe. It has over two hundred million subscribers all over the world. In February 2022, Netflix became the second-largest entertainment company in terms of capitalization. Have you ever wondered, Does Amazon own Netflix? to know read further!
Does Amazon own Netflix?
Amazon has never owned Netflix, they made a partnership deal in 1998 which last for a short time. The complete process takes place in such a way that after two months of the launch of Netflix, co-founders Marc Randolph, and Reed Hastings went on a meeting with Jeff Bezos. At that time, Netflix was not making good revenue. When Amazon declared that they would offer around $15 million, he hesitated as he somewhere knew that Netflix has the potential to grow, also he is 70% owner of the company but Randolph was quite satisfied with the deal as they both also knew at that time that Amazon will become a strong competitor later.
Though Netflix did not agree to be sold to Amazon, they decided to do a partnership, where Amazon linked with Netflix for rentals and Netflix included amazon links for customers to buy DVDs but this partnership was providing profit only to Amazon, so Netflix decided to quit the partnership.
Amazon Fire TV and Netflix partnership
Recently, Amazon Fire TV and Netflix agreed on a partnership where Netflix has launched the ‘Alexa play something’ feature which is linked to Amazon’s artificial intelligence system, that will help the viewers to decide what they should watch as there are thousands of movies and web series in the row. It was a very profitable strategy of Netflix as it is according to the convenience of the users and will attract more customers, thus increasing the number of subscribers.
History of Amazon
On July 5, 1994, Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos from his garage. Its headquarters are in Seattle, Washington, the U.S. It went public in May 1997. Initially, it was a marketplace for online selling books and started delivering outside the country in 1998 in the U.K and Germany. Later on, it started selling products in many other categories. On July 5, 2021, Bezos stepped down as the chief executive officer and handed this position to Andy Jassy.
Companies owned by Amazon
Here is the list of some important acquisitions done by Amazon.
1) Whole Foods Market
It is a prominent organic grocery store. It was founded in 1978 and was purchased by Amazon on August 28, 2017. It was the biggest purchase of Amazon as at the time of acquisition its market capitalization was around ten billion dollars. But this purchase did not satisfy the expectations of Amazon as revenue was continuously falling since the acquisition. Amazon’s motive was to make all the ordering sites into one so that it would be easy for the customers to buy only from one place and could generate more traffic on the site.
2) Twitch Interactive
This platform is famous for video games and live streaming videos. It was established in 2011 and bought by Amazon on August 25, 2014. Before the purchase, it had around 50 million visiting customers, and thus it was a great deal for Amazon as the modern generation is more into social media and the big personalities also use live streaming videos to make their voice reachable to every person. From children to teens to some adult age groups of people are much interested in video games and so proves to be beneficial for Amazon also.
3) MGM Holdings Inc(pending)
It was established in 1924 and was announced to be bought by Amazon on May 26, 2021. Yet Amazon has not completely acquired it, it needs some regulatory approval. Once it was bought by the company, it would become the second-largest acquisition of 8.5 billion dollars by Amazon. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer(MGM) produces and distributes films and TV content. It has a huge number of films and many are highly successful. This likely will prove to be a very profitable purchase for Amazon as everyone loves to binge-watch movies and web series for their entertainment and will surely increase subscriptions for its Prime video services.
4) Zappos
Zappos is a prominent footwear and apparel company in the world. It was purchased by Amazon on November 2, 2009. This purchase led Amazon to retail in categories other than books the first time.
5) Kiva Systems
This company produces robotics systems for many purposes and was purchased by Amazon on March 19, 2012. It was a big purchase at that time for $775 million. Kiva Systems are now known as Amazon Robotics and produces thousands of robots specially for the delivery service of the company.
Conclusion
Amazon has owned many different companies and is trying to retail in categories they ever thought of. Amazon was on the verge to buy Netflix but it never happened as one of the co-founders of Netflix has faith in the company. And today, both Amazon and Netflix are the biggest known brands in their fields.
Frequently Asked Questions
1) Which app on Amazon is used to read books?
Ans- Amazon has a Kindle of its own for reading books.
2) Did Amazon produce robots for home?
Ans- Yes, Amazon has launched its first household robot in September 2021.
3) Does Amazon manufacture automobiles?
Ans- No, Amazon has not started this service yet.
