Bezos' $62 Billion Gamble on Cloud Computing Paid Off Big Time

Jeff Bezos' Riskiest Investment Was Amazon Web Services

Amazon's founder, Jeff Bezos, made a series of bold bets that could have ended in disaster. One of his riskiest investments was Amazon Web Services (AWS), launched in 2006.

AWS allowed consumers to rent computing services and pay only for the power and storage they used. At the time, the concept of cloud computing was largely unproven, and critics questioned why an online retailer like Amazon was investing so heavily in this technology.

Despite the criticism, Bezos never seemed bothered by it. In 2022, he took to social media to poke fun at BusinessWeek's skeptical article from 2006, saying that AWS generated revenue of more than $62 billion last year.

AWS has become Amazon's most profitable business, estimated to be worth between $1 trillion and $2.6 trillion if it were a standalone company.