Amazon vs eBay: Founders, CEOs and History
Amazon was founded in 1994 by Jeffrey Preston Bezos and is led by Andy Jassy. eBay was founded in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar and is led by Jamie Iannone.
Company facts
Founders
Amazon
Jeffrey Preston Bezos
Amazon was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, an electrical engineering and computer science graduate from Princeton who was working as a paid quantitative analyst at the Wall Street firm D. E. Shaw & Co.
eBay
Pierre Omidyar
eBay possesses one of the most famous, founding stories in the history of the early dot-com boom, rooted in the chaotic, unproven nature of the early commercial internet.
CEOs and their tenures
Amazon
- Jeffrey P. Bezos1994–2021
Founder & CEO
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 and was chief executive until July 2021. He moved the company beyond books in 1998, opened the store to third-party sellers in November 2000, launched Prime in 2005, funded AWS from 2006, and bought Whole Foods Market in 2017.…
Source - Andrew R. Jassy2021–present
CEO
Andy Jassy became Amazon's chief executive in July 2021. He started the AWS business in 2003 and led it as it grew into the largest cloud infrastructure provider by revenue, reporting $128.7 billion of net sales and $45.6 billion of operating income in FY2025.
Source
eBay
- Meg Whitman1998–2008
Former President and CEO
Whitman's decade of leadership is widely regarded as the golden era of the company's expansion.
Source - Jamie Iannone2020–present
Chief Executive Officer
Iannone's strategic vision provided much-needed focus and discipline, stabilizing the company's market position.
Source
Timeline: Amazon and eBay side by side
1994Amazon
Amazon Founded
Jeff Bezos incorporated the company as Cadabra, Inc. in Washington state on July 5, 1994, after leaving D. E. Shaw. He and MacKenzie Scott drove from New York to Seattle, and Bezos began building the website in the garage of a rented house in Bellevue.
1995Amazon
Amazon.com Launches
Amazon.com went live on July 16, 1995, selling books. In the first month the site shipped orders to all fifty US states and forty-five other countries.
1995eBay
AuctionWeb Founded
Pierre Omidyar launches the online auction site that becomes eBay.
1997Amazon
IPO on NASDAQ
Amazon went public on May 14, 1997, selling 3,000,000 shares at $18 each on NASDAQ under the ticker AMZN, raising $54 million. Net sales that year grew 838% to $147.8 million.
1998eBay
IPO
eBay goes public as online auctions become mainstream internet commerce.
2000Amazon
Third-Party Marketplace Launch
Amazon Marketplace launched in November 2000, letting third parties sell on the same product pages as Amazon. Third-party sellers accounted for 61% of paid units by the fourth quarter of 2025.
2002eBay
PayPal Acquisition
eBay acquires PayPal, strengthening online payments for marketplace transactions.
2005Amazon
Amazon Prime Introduced
Amazon announced Prime on February 2, 2005, a $79-per-year membership with unlimited two-day delivery on about one million items. The US price is now $139 a year.
2006Amazon
AWS Launches Cloud Services
Amazon Web Services announced Amazon S3 on March 14, 2006, followed by EC2 later that year. AWS reported $128.7 billion of net sales and $45.6 billion of operating income in FY2025.
2007Amazon
Kindle E-Reader Launch
Amazon released the first Kindle in November 2007 at $399, with free cellular downloads over Whispernet and the Kindle self-publishing service launched the same day.
2012Amazon
Kiva Systems Acquisition
Amazon agreed in March 2012 to buy Kiva Systems for approximately $775 million in cash, bringing warehouse robotics in house. Kiva became Amazon Robotics.
2014Amazon
Twitch Acquisition
Amazon agreed in August 2014 to acquire Twitch Interactive for approximately $970 million in cash, adding live game streaming and a creator community to its media assets.
2015Amazon
Echo and Alexa Reach Everyone
Amazon introduced the Echo speaker and the Alexa assistant in November 2014 for Prime members by invitation, then made Echo generally available in the US in June 2015.
2015eBay
PayPal Spin-Off
PayPal separates from eBay, leaving eBay focused on the core marketplace.
2017Amazon
Whole Foods Acquisition
Amazon agreed in June 2017 to buy Whole Foods Market for $13.7 billion including debt, adding roughly 460 stores and a physical grocery base for delivery and pickup.
2020eBay
Jamie Iannone Becomes CEO
Iannone begins a strategy centered on focus categories and marketplace quality.
2021Amazon
Andy Jassy Becomes CEO
Amazon announced on February 2, 2021 that Jeff Bezos would move to executive chair and Andy Jassy would become CEO. The handover took place on July 5, 2021.
2022Amazon
MGM Acquisition Completed
Amazon completed its acquisition of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in March 2022 at a purchase price of $8.45 billion, adding a library of more than 4,000 films and 17,000 television episodes to Prime Video.
2023Amazon
One Medical Deal Closes and the FTC Sues
Amazon completed its $3.9 billion acquisition of One Medical in February 2023. In September 2023 the FTC and 17 state attorneys general sued Amazon over marketplace practices, and that case is still unresolved.
2025Amazon
One Millionth Robot and Project Rainier
Amazon deployed its one millionth robot in mid-2025 across more than 300 facilities and released the DeepFleet AI model to route them. In October 2025 AWS brought Project Rainier, a cluster of roughly 500,000 Trainium2 chips built with Anthropic, fully online.
2025Amazon
FTC Prime Settlement and the Amazon Leo Rebrand
Amazon agreed in September 2025 to pay $2.5 billion to settle the FTC's Prime enrollment case, $1 billion in civil penalties plus $1.5 billion in customer refunds.
2025eBay
FY2025 Marketplace Scale
eBay reports $11.100B revenue, 135M active buyers, and nearly $80B GMV.
2026Amazon
Record FY2025 Results and 30,000 Corporate Cuts
Amazon reported FY2025 net sales of $716.9 billion, operating income of $80.0 billion, and net income of $77.7 billion. In January 2026 it cut about 16,000 corporate roles, following 14,000 in October 2025.
2026eBay
Depop Acquisition Closes
eBay completes its roughly $1.2B cash purchase of Depop from Etsy, adding a Gen Z and Millennial fashion resale marketplace.
Acquisitions
Amazon
- One Medical2023$3.9B
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer2022$8.4B
- Ring2018Undisclosed
- PillPack2018$753M
- Whole Foods Market2017$13.7B
- Twitch Interactive2014$970M
Questions about Amazon vs eBay
Who is the CEO of Amazon.com, Inc. and eBay Inc.?
Amazon.com, Inc. is led by Andy Jassy and eBay Inc. is led by Jamie Iannone. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.
When was Amazon.com, Inc. founded vs eBay Inc.?
Amazon.com, Inc. was founded in 1994 — 1 year before eBay Inc., which was founded in 1995. Amazon.com, Inc.'s longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger eBay Inc..
How many employees does Amazon.com, Inc. have compared to eBay Inc.?
Amazon.com, Inc. employs approximately 1,576,000 people, while eBay Inc. employs approximately 12,300. Amazon.com, Inc. has the larger workforce at 1,576,000 employees, compared to eBay Inc.'s 12,300. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).
Where are Amazon.com, Inc. and eBay Inc. headquartered?
Both Amazon.com, Inc. and eBay Inc. are headquartered in United States, meaning they operate under the same primary regulatory and tax environment.
Who founded Amazon.com, Inc. and eBay Inc.?
Amazon.com, Inc. was founded by Jeffrey Preston Bezos. eBay Inc. was founded by Pierre Omidyar.
Which company has a longer operating history — Amazon.com, Inc. or eBay Inc.?
Amazon.com, Inc. has been operating for approximately 32 years, making it the more established of the two companies. eBay Inc. has been in operation for around 31 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Amazon vs eBay overview