Question 1

True or false: Amazon originally sold only books from its founding in 1994.

Accepted Answer

False. Amazon started by selling books, but within months added CDs, DVDs, and software, not just books from day one.

Question 2

True or false: Amazon sells more e-books than physical books every year since 2011.

Accepted Answer

True. Amazon announced in 2011 that Kindle e-book sales surpassed paperback sales, and the trend has continued for most years since.

Question 3

True or false: Amazon was originally named 'Cadabra' before becoming Amazon.

Accepted Answer

False. Jeff Bezos considered 'Cadabra' but changed it because it sounded like 'cadaver'. He chose 'Amazon' for its exotic, river-like vastness.

Question 4

True or false: Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos founded the company in his garage like many tech startups.

Accepted Answer

False. Bezos started Amazon in a rented house in Bellevue, Washington, not a garage. The 'garage myth' is common but inaccurate.

Question 5

True or false: Amazon Web Services generates more profit than Amazon's entire retail division.

Accepted Answer

True. AWS consistently accounts for the majority of Amazon's operating income, far surpassing retail margins.

Question 6

True or false: Amazon's headquarters in Seattle includes a building with a giant dog statue.

Accepted Answer

False. The Spheres at Amazon's HQ feature a giant dog statue named 'Rufus' after the company's original office dog, but it's not a standard building feature.

Question 7

True or false: Amazon has a patent on one-click purchasing that expires in 2024.

Accepted Answer

True. Amazon's famous one-click patent was granted in 1999 and expired in September 2017, not 2024.

Question 8

True or false: Amazon's first employee was a woman named Shelly Kapoor.

Accepted Answer

True. Shelly Kapoor was Amazon's first employee, hired in 1994 as a software engineer before the company launched publicly.

Amazon Trivia Questions