Amazon.com

The Everything Store has entered into a new era — of profitability. The e-commerce giant founded by Jeff Bezos has gone from black sheep to Wall Street darling, thanks to four consecutive quarters of record profits. Amazon’s hardware business is taking off thanks to a hit with the nascent internet of things and newer, cheaper tablets. The company’s voice-controlled home automation device, Echo, has become one of Amazon’s most desired products and sales of its Fire tablets outpaced those of Apple’s iPads during last year’s Black Friday. Amazon Prime, the company’s subscription service for faster free delivery and streaming services of video and music, continues to serve as a lucrative business. In particular, Amazon has been doubling down on its streaming service, launching new original content for TV and movies, as well as offering a standalone streaming service for customers to rival Netflix. Up next? The e-commerce giant is quietly building a shipping network of trucks, planes, and freight to get deliveries to customers faster, taking on the likes of FedEx and UPS.