[edanm]

I'm pretty sure you're wrong.

Most people have no idea what AWS is, but know what Amazon the consumer business is.

AWS is only well known among tech circles.

[mywittyname]

I kind of agree. But without AWS, Amazon could never have become the Amazon that we know today. AWS brings in the vast majority of the profits (sometimes >100%) for Amazon, despite being a modest proportion of revenue (~10%).

This is what generates the funding necessary for Amazon to do the crazy things that make Amazon amazing. Amazon - AWS = digital Walmart. Big and profitable, but not Amazon.

[Axsuul]

I think OP was alluding to the cash cow that AWS has become.

[zmmmmm]

Interestingly, if you go international, Amazon is either not present at all or a niche player as an online store in many countries. But in terms of cloud infrastructure they've become the universal global default / premium service. It is fascinating to me that they have beaten players like Microsoft, IBM, Oracle etc. to this status. I actually have to mount a business case in my organisation NOT to use AWS even though all the desktops and half the servers are pure Microsoft stack.

[dimator]

I think gp means that bezos would not be a mega billionaire without aws. He would be like any other nameless CEO in the public's knowledge.

[rileyphone]

AWS has been buying a zillion ads in NFL games, not entirely sure why but it's hard to ignore.

[karmasimida]

> Most people have no idea what AWS is

Actually no. Most people I know even not in Tech, know Amazon has this 'cloud' business. Whether they know it is called AWS or not, is different.

[paxys]

While regular consumers may not know what AWS is, Amazon's core business was able to sustain losses for 10+ years only because of profits coming from there.

[bryanrasmussen]

without AWS would Amazon have been able to dominate?