SEATTLE, WA (May 14, 1997)-- Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced today the initial public offering of 3,000,000 shares of its Common Stock at a price of $18 per share. Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Inc. is acting as lead manager and Alex. Brown & Sons Incorporated and Hambrecht & Quist are acting as co-mangers for the underwriting group. The Company has granted to the Underwriters an option to purchase up to 450,000 additional shares from the Company for the purpose of covering over-allotments, if any.

Amazon.com, Inc. is an online retailer of books, offering more than 2.5 million titles through a consistent search and retrieval interface.

Copies of the final prospectus relating to the offering may be obtained from:

Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, Inc.
31 West 52nd Street, 4th Floor
New York, New York 10019
Phone (800) 486-9119
Fax (212) 469-5995

Alex. Brown & Sons Incorporated
1 South Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21202
(410) 727-1700

Hambrecht & Quist LLC
One Bush Street
San Francisco, CA 94104
(415) 439-3300
or
230 Park Avenue
New York, New York 10169

On May 12, 1997, Barnes & Noble, Inc. filed suit against the Company alleging false advertising claims. A Dow Jones News Service release on May 13, 1997 reported that a "syndicate source characterized the lawsuit as petty and spiteful, and said it would probably put a 'little bit of a damper' on Amazon.com's IPO. The source said investors will view this suit as somewhat benign because it isn't in response to Amazon's handling of its finances or some other hard-core business practice." These statements were not authorized by and have not been endorsed by the Company. The Company is still in the process of evaluating Barnes & Noble's claims, and therefore is not in a position at this time to determine that the suit is not without merit. The Company intends to defend against the lawsuit vigorously.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there by any sale of these securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.

Amazon.com, Inc. is headquartered at 1516 Second Avenue, 4th Floor, Seattle, WA 98101; Internet Address: http://amazon.com; Phone: (206) 622-2335.

Note to Editors: Amazon.com is a service mark of Amazon.com, Inc.