Amazon Inc is an American international e-commerce company started by Jeffrey P. Bezos in 1994 that has grown to become the world's largest online retailer. It manages millions of backend operations through its large centralized data warehouses and servers running on Linux and Oracle databases. While many other dot-com companies failed in the 1990s, Amazon survived and diversified from solely an online bookstore into multiple product lines. It has a large customer base due to its wide range of available products and low prices with free shipping on many items. Amazon has also had success in cloud computing and may further expand into online entertainment and communication software.