Amazon vs Netflix: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: Amazon and Netflix side by side

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 1997Netflix

   Netflix Founded Online

   In 1997, Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph founded Netflix as an internet-based DVD rental service. The timing mattered because DVDs were new, light enough to mail, and better suited to centralized logistics than VHS tapes.

5. 1999Netflix

   DVD Subscription Launch

   In 1999, Netflix introduced its DVD subscription plan, replacing individual rental economics with a flat monthly fee. The plan removed late fees, one of the most disliked features of the video-store experience.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 2007Netflix

    Streaming Service Begins

    In 2007, Netflix launched streaming while the DVD-by-mail service was still a meaningful business. The decision required licensing content for digital viewing and building technology that could deliver video reliably over home broadband.

11. 2010Netflix

    Mobile App Expansion

    In 2010, Netflix expanded across mobile and connected devices as streaming consumption moved beyond desktop computers.

12. 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.

13. 2013Netflix

    House of Cards Debuts

    In 2013, Netflix released House of Cards and proved that a streaming platform could fund and distribute premium original television. The full-season release reinforced binge viewing and gave Netflix a cultural identity beyond licensed catalog content.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 2016Netflix

    Global 130+ Launch

    In 2016, Netflix launched in more than 130 additional countries, making the service available across most of the world outside a handful of restricted markets.

17. 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.

18. 2017Netflix

    Millarworld Acquisition Becomes a Strategy Test

    Netflix's 2017 Millarworld acquisition changed the portfolio rather than simply adding scale.

19. 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.

20. 2021Netflix

    Netflix Games Launch

    In 2021, Netflix launched games as part of the subscription with no separate fee. The move broadened Netflix beyond passive video and gave the company a way to extend intellectual property into interactive formats.

21. 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.

22. 2022Netflix

    Ad Tier Introduced

    In 2022, Netflix introduced an ad-supported subscription tier after years of resisting advertising. The launch followed slowing subscriber growth and gave the company a lower-priced plan for more price-sensitive households.

23. 2022Netflix

    Game Studio Buying Spree

    In 2022, Netflix acquired Next Games, Boss Fight Entertainment, and Spry Fox after buying Night School Studio in 2021. These deals gave the company development teams with experience in mobile, narrative, and accessible games.

24. 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.

25. 2023Netflix

    Password Crackdown Monetized

    In 2023, Netflix began enforcing paid sharing rules in major markets, including the United States. The change converted some viewers outside a household into new members or paid add-ons.

26. 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.

27. 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.

28. 2025Netflix

    FY2025 Revenue Reaches Approximately $45.2B

    In FY2025, Netflix generated $45.18B in revenue, $13.33B in operating income, and $10.98B in net income. The filing also said the company had stopped reporting membership numbers and would focus on revenue and operating margin as primary financial metrics.

29. 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.

30. 2026Netflix

    Q2 2026 Revenue Reaches $12.56B

    Netflix reported Q2 2026 revenue of $12.56B, up 13%, a 33.4% operating margin, and narrowed 2026 revenue guidance to $51.0B-$51.4B.

31. 2026Netflix

    Warner Bros. Deal Terminated

    On February 27, 2026, Warner Bros. Discovery ended its merger agreement with Netflix to accept a Paramount Skydance offer, and Paramount paid Netflix the $2.8B termination fee.

32. 2026Netflix

    Reed Hastings Leaves Board

    Reed Hastings did not stand for re-election at the June 2026 annual meeting; longtime director Jay Hoag became chairman.

Acquisitions

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