Amazon is an American technology company that has a multinational presence with offices and facilities around the world. The company is based in Seattle, Washington and has over 1,600,000 employees globally, with 950,000 of those in the US. [1]
Amazon's global headquarters are in more than 40 owned and leased buildings spread across Seattle's adjacent South Lake Union, Denny Triangle, and Downtown neighborhoods. The first 14 buildings Amazon occupied in South Lake Union were developed primarily by Vulcan, Inc. from 2008 onward, the first 11 of which were acquired from Vulcan in 2012 at a cost of $1.16 billion. [2] [3] The company was previously headquartered in rented space within the Pacific Medical Center, located in the city's Beacon Hill neighborhood, from 1998 to 2011. [4] [5]
Amazon is currently building a new four tower, four low-rise, complex in Seattle's Denny Triangle neighborhood to serve as the primary headquarters, though it will retain many of the earlier purchased buildings to house its more than 45,000 corporate employees in the Seattle area. [6] The plan for the new campus, designed by NBBJ and named "Rufus 2.0" after a dog who was part of the company in its early days, [7] [8] was approved by the city of Seattle in 2012 and construction began the year after. [9] [10] The first of the towers, nicknamed Doppler, opened on December 14, 2015. [11] [12]
Amazon's European headquarters are in Luxembourg's capital, Luxembourg. [13] Its UK headquarters are at Principal Place, Shoreditch, London. [14]
On November 13, 2018, Amazon announced that it would divide the planned HQ2 between New York City and Northern Virginia. [15] On February 14, 2019, Amazon canceled its plan for the HQ2 location in New York City. Amazon is also in the process of building a retail hub of operations center in Nashville, Tennessee.
On August 21, 2019, Amazon opened its largest campus in the world at Nanakramguda in Hyderabad, India. It is the first Amazon-owned campus located outside the United States and features the single largest Amazon-owned building in the world. The 9.5 acre campus houses over 15,000 employees. [16] [17]
Amazon plans to build a major campus in Bellevue, Washington, a suburb of Seattle, that will host 15,000 employees by 2025. [18] The company opened its first Bellevue office in 2017, marking a return to the city since the company was founded there in 1995. [19] [20] The Bellevue campus will include the 43-story Bellevue 600 tower, which is planned to be the tallest building in the city and the tallest to be developed by Amazon. [21]
While much of Amazon's software development occurs in Seattle, the company employs software developers in centers across the globe. Some of these sites are run by an Amazon subsidiary called A2Z Development. [22] Amazon global corporate offices are categorized by three major regions: Americas (AMER), Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA), and Asia and the Pacific (APAC).
Amazon now employs more than 150,000 people in permanent roles across 21 EU Member States. [47]
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Below is a list of Amazon's retail locations, as of September 2021. Most of the stores are located inside of the United States, but Whole Foods also operates stores in Canada and the United Kingdom, while Amazon Go has six locations in London under the Amazon Fresh name. [80] [81]
In addition to Amazon Lockers, Amazon has around 30 staffed pickup points in the United States and over 800 independent ones in India. The US locations have large sets of Amazon Lockers and an area for customers to make returns. [94] The India locations are in existing retailers and have customers wait for a store employee to retrieve their package. [95]
Amazon fulfillment centers are large facilities with hundreds of employees, sometimes thousands. Employees are responsible for five basic tasks: unpacking and inspecting incoming goods; placing goods in storage and recording their location; picking goods from their computer recorded locations to make up an individual shipment; sorting and packing orders; and shipping. A computer that records the location of goods and maps out routes for pickers plays a key role: employees carry hand-held computers which communicate with the central computer and monitor their rate of progress. A picker may walk 10 or more miles a day.
In newer fulfillment centers, items are stored on pods and brought to pickers by robots (Amazon Robotics). In the United Kingdom, initial staffing was provided by Randstad Holding and other temporary employment agencies. In the United States, many workers are hired as Amazon employees and granted shares of stock or sign-on bonuses, while others are offered temporary seasonal positions. "When we have permanent positions available, we look to the top-performing temporary associates to fill them," said an Amazon spokesperson. [96] Amazon acquired Kiva Systems, a warehouse automation company, in 2012.
Amazon fulfillment centers can also provide warehousing and order-fulfillment for third-party sellers, for an extra fee. [97] Third-party sellers can use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) to ship for other platforms as well, such as eBay or their own websites. [98]
On March 20, 2020, Amazon agreed to remove metal detectors from its warehouses after a warehouse worker tested positive for COVID-19. [99] In addition to removing metal detectors, Amazon enacted a "6 feet rule", which enforced a six-feet distance between warehouse employees. [99] The Federal Public Health Emergency (PHE) for COVID-19 (which included social distancing) declared under Section 319 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act, expired at the end of the day on May 11, 2023. [100]
Fulfillment centers are located in the following cities and are often named after an International Air Transport Association airport code (Fulfillment Center Codes). [101] Sortation centers are regional warehouses where Amazon packages are sorted to a last-mile carrier, typically either Amazon Logistics or the United States Postal Service.
This list includes Amazon fulfillment centers and sortation centers but excludes other types of Amazon warehouses such as Amazon Logistics delivery stations, Prime Now warehouses, or Amazon Fresh warehouses.
Amazon operates 60 fulfilment centres across 15 states in India. [311]
This list includes currently open or to be opened Fulfilment Centres (FC), Sort Centres (SC) and Delivery Stations (DS). [316] [317]
Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company, engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It is considered one of the Big Five American technology companies; the other four are Alphabet, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft.
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Amazon is an American multinational technology company which focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, and digital streaming. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economic and cultural forces in the world", and is one of the world's most valuable brands.
Some warehouse workers of Amazon, the largest American e-commerce retailer with 750,000 employees, have organized for workplace improvements in light of the company's scrutinized labor practices and stance against unions. Worker actions have included work stoppages and have won concessions including increased pay, safety precautions, and time off. There are unionized Amazon workers in both the United States and Europe.