Amazon is an American e-commerce and cloud computing company. It is the largest Internet-based retailer in the United States, with over 230,000 employees worldwide. Amazon was founded in 1994 as an online bookstore and later diversified to sell software, video games and electronic devices (such as the Kindle e-reader and Amazon Fire tablet). It offers a variety of other products and services, such as self-publishing, online advertising, an e-commerce platform and a co-branded credit card. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.