Amazon is one of the rare companies to continue ultrafast growth even as it became a giant organization. That can be seen in its head count, which skyrocketed in the last few years.
1997
641 employees
Amazon goes public.2001
1,200
Recession hits and Amazon workforce declines this year and in 2002.
2005
3,000
Workforce cracks the five-digit total (12,000) for first time
2011
22,500
Employee base grows by 67 percent to 56,200, fastest in percentage terms since its earliest days.
2013
28,900
Amazon crosses 100,000 workers for the first time, reaching 117,300 at year's end
2015
76,000
Amazon passed $100 billion in sales in 2015, employee base reaches 230,000
2016
341,000 employees
Amazon added 111,400 employees last year, nearly as many as its total employment in 2013