Amazon becomes second US company to hit $1 trillion market capitalisation

Amazon's market capitalisation has doubled over the past 12 months - and tripled since 2015

Amazon has become only the second US company - and only the third in the world - to cross the trillion dollar market-capitalisation mark, following Apple earlier this summer.

That's after the online retailer and cloud computing pioneer saw its stock price jump by almost two per cent on Tuesday, topping the $2,050.27 per share mark needed to hit this milestone.

It comes after a big ramp-up in the US stock market following tax cuts earlier this year, combined with strong trading exhibited in recent quarterly financial filings by both Amazon and Apple.

Amazon's stock price rocketed from $600 billion to $1 trillion in the space of just 165 trading days this year, helping it to more than double - increasing by 111 per cent - over the past 12 months.

Longer-term shareholders will no doubt be delighted. Three years ago Amazon's valuation sat at around $250 billion. The increase in the company's market capitalisation reflects a belief - or concern - that Amazon will increasingly dominate retail for the foreseeable future.

Apple is the only other US company to boast a $1 trillion market value, hitting that target on 2 August earlier this year. The first was PetroChina, shortly after it floated in 2008. Its share price crashed shortly after and the giant oil company is now valued at around $225 billion.

Surprisingly, both Google parent company Alphabet and Microsoft still haven't made the trillion dollar mark, with both currently hovering around the $900 million mark.

As for Facebook, its latest controversies have seen its market capitalisation fall, particularly following founder Mark Zuckerberg's admission that worldwide pushes for greater online privacy could affect the company over the next few years.

Amazon's milestone comes not long after Amazon completed its purchase of smart home security company Ring.

Moments after the takeover, the Ring Video Doorbell was reduced to $99 (£89) on Amazon in a move that was permanent. This knocks the price down by roughly £50 in the UK.

The deal, first announced at the start of the year, is rumoured to have cost Amazon $1bn as one of two major acquisitions to bolster its smart home credentials.

Late last year, the company also bought Blink, a maker of modestly priced security cameras, in a move that, it has been speculated, is as much about the company's incredible battery life patents as about the products themselves.