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