From Cadabra to Amazon: A Star is Born

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Jeff Bezos decided back in the early 90s that online shopping was about to boom and that he should ride the wave.

Books were the way forward, the hedge fund executive reasoned, because an online bookstore could stock all three million titles that were in print at the time, whereas the biggest physical bookstore could hold only about 150,000. In July 1994, Mr Bezos moved to Seattle with his new wife and, from his garage, set up Cadabra.

He sold his first book in 1995 under the new company name, Amazon.

Read more (with limited access) about the dizzying rise from humble bookseller to global retail behemoth.