Amazon (AMZN -2.83%) has been one of the best stocks to ever own on the market, and it's still going strong. Although today its most potent opportunities come from artificial intelligence (AI), it built itself up to become the e-commerce king when that industry was just getting started. If you were prescient enough to invest $10,000 in Amazon stock 25 years ago, when it wasn't obvious what it would be today, you'd have a lot more money.

E-commerce, cloud, and more

Older readers might remember that when Amazon launched, it was an online bookseller. But it quickly expanded into all kinds of e-commerce, acquiring many other companies all over the world to become a massive global enterprise. Today, outside of e-commerce, it is the leader in cloud computing and a dominant player in streaming. It continues to acquire companies that help it grow, such as its purchase of One Medical in 2023 that boosted its presence in the health space.

It wasn't that hard to see where Amazon was going in its early days. In 1997, its first year as a public company, revenue increased 838% year over year. Twenty-five years ago, Amazon had already made a name for itself, and its stock had gained more than 3,000%. If you had invested $10,000 at that time and held on until today, you'd have $686,000. Not quite millions, yet, but well on its way.

Someone who achieved this might be tempted to sell at this point, but Amazon still has tons of future gaining potential. CEO Andy Jassy said that the generative AI business is a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity. Anyone who's held for this long surely understands the power of holding for the long term, but they might consider selling some of their position and buying other growth stocks to make sure they're well diversified.