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In 1990, the Internet was still a highly technical tool being used almost exclusively by the academic and military communities. By the end of the decade, thanks in great part to Jeff Bezos, the Internet would be utilized as the greatest innovation in commerce since Henry Ford's creation of the assembly line.
Educated as an electrical engineer and computer scientist at Princeton, Bezos began his professional career in the world of finance, but quickly turned his attention to the Internet when he learned that between 1993 and 1994, Internet usage had increased by 2,300 percent.
Armed with this piece of information, Bezos made the determination that the one field where the Internet could make the biggest impact was the world of books. At that point in time, there was no single print catalogue that covered the entire universe of publishing.
It didn't take long for this dream to become a reality. Launching Amazon.com in July of 1995, Bezos had sold books in 50 states within 30 days. Within two months, sales were up to $20,000 a week. From there, sales simply skyrocketed.
In 1997, Bezos took the company public,. In 1999, Amazon.com's sales exceeded $1.6 billion. By the end of the decade, Amazon.com had serviced 17 million customers in 150 countries. For his efforts, Bezos was recognized by Time Magazine as "Man of the Year."
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