SEATTLE, November 13, 2026 — Amazon has claimed the top spot on Forbes’ 2027 “America’s Best Companies” list, moving up from second place last year and edging out Apple for the honor. The ranking arrives as the Seattle-based conglomerate balances a massive capital spending plan with a stock rally that has made it the second-best performer among the “Magnificent Seven” this year.
The Story Begins in a Bellevue Garage
The company that now dominates global retail and cloud computing started in 1994 as an online book marketplace founded by Jeff Bezos in Bellevue, Washington. From those origins, it expanded into “The Everything Store,” a moniker that captured its ambition to sell virtually every consumer product category. By 2026, Amazon had become the world’s biggest online retailer, a sprawling multinational conglomerate engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, entertainment, and artificial intelligence.
What Unfolded in the Forbes Ranking
Forbes scored thousands of the largest public and private U.S. companies on factors including customer and employee sentiment, financial performance, creditworthiness, cybersecurity, and innovation, working with 12 data organizations to build the index. Amazon’s financial strength and size, its standing in news and social media, and the range of voices across its leadership lifted it to No. 1. The publication also highlighted the company’s speed, citing a text-message shopping feature suggested by an employee in October that launched on November 6. “Innovating for customers, doing it fast, working backwards from their needs, that’s really at our core,” Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president of people, experience and technology, told Forbes.
Apple, last year’s runner-up, scored especially well on employee satisfaction, customer loyalty, financial strength, and innovation but settled for the second spot. Rounding out the top ten were Nvidia at No. 3, Berkshire Hathaway at No. 4, followed by JPMorganChase, Alphabet, Royal Caribbean Group, Walmart, and Marriott International. Three other Washington state companies joined Amazon in the top 50: Microsoft at No. 6, Costco at No. 13, and Alaska Air Group at No. 39.
At Its Heart, a Capital Gamble
The ranking comes at a pivotal financial moment. Amazon expects to spend $220 billion on capital expenditures in 2026 and “meaningfully more” next year, a build-out driven largely by artificial intelligence infrastructure. That spending has pushed the company into negative free cash flow territory, with a cash outflow of $42.4 billion in the trailing 12 months compared to a positive $14.8 billion in the prior period. Yet the market has responded favorably. Amazon stock has extended its year-to-date gain to more than 15%, making it the second-best performing “Magnificent Seven” stock this year after Apple. On Thursday, shares ticked up 1% to $269.49.
The cloud division, Amazon Web Services, remains the engine. AWS revenue rose more than 39% year-over-year in the September quarter, the highest growth in nearly five years, while operating income jumped 56% to $17.8 billion. The cloud backlog also surged triple digits to $578 billion.
For Those Involved, a Year of Contrast
The Forbes honor follows a year of significant workforce reductions. Amazon eliminated about 30,000 corporate jobs in rounds announced in October 2025 and January 2026, including more than 4,500 in Washington state. Smaller cuts continued throughout the year, including layoffs of fewer than 1,000 corporate employees in October, mainly in its Stores unit. In its own blog post celebrating the ranking, the company highlighted faster delivery, custom AI chips, warehouse robotics, and higher pay for frontline workers.
Meanwhile, the company’s early bet on Anthropic is paying off in paper gains. Amazon’s $18 billion investment in the AI startup could balloon to more than $250 billion if Anthropic’s expected initial public offering values the company at up to $1.4 trillion this month. Andy Jassy, Amazon’s chief executive, has told investors that AI represents “an extraordinarily unusual opportunity to forever change the size” of the company.
Sources
- Amazon (company)
- Run agents securely and efficiently with the next generation AgentCore runtime | Amazon Web Services
- Tech’s Biggest Companies Will See a Giant Payday From Anthropic’s I.P.O.
- Amazon tops Forbes’ list of America’s best companies, edging out Apple for No. 1
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Photo: Adamajreynolds (CC BY-SA 4.0)
