Amazon‚ following hot on the heels of Apple‚ has become the second US company to achieve a market capitalisation in excess of $1-trillion.

The e-commerce behemoth achieved the milestone in Tuesday trade in the US‚ making its founder Jeff Bezos as wealthy as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet put together‚ the New York Times reported. 

Amazon‚ which employs nearly half a million people‚ started out as an online alternative to bookshops‚ but has since expanded into selling household goods‚ tech and even groceries in certain large US cities.

It is also a major streamer of video content on its Amazon Prime service.