Who owns IMDb?
IMDb is owned by Amazon (the United States, NASDAQ: AMZN), which has owned the brand since 27 April 1998.[1]
Evidence: Amazon.com, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-02-06, SEC EDGAR, 6 February 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Amazon.com, Inc. verified
- Owned since
- Owner HQ
- 🇺🇸 United States, Seattle, Washington
- Origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- Founded
- 1990
- Category
- Internet & digital › Digital services › Digital publishing
- Parent ticker
- NASDAQ: AMZN
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About IMDb
IMDb began in 1990 as a list of actresses posted to a Usenet newsgroup by a British film fan, and grew into the definitive film and television database. Amazon acquired it in 1998, one of the company's earliest purchases and long before it sold anything but books.
Ownership timeline of IMDb
Where IMDb sits in Amazon
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Amazon ownership tree →
See the full Amazon brand portfolio (11) →
Other brands owned by Amazon
Amazon controls 11 brands on Brandtree, 8 of them in internet & digital.
Also in internet & digital
- Amazon Web Services (2006)
- Amazon.com (1994)
- Audible (1995)
- Goodreads (2007)
- Ring (2013)
- Twitch (2011)
- Zappos (1999)
Founded in the 1990s
- 365 by Whole Foods Market (1997)
Other brands in digital publishing, and who owns them
The 36 brands in digital publishing on Brandtree belong to 20 owners. The largest is Astro, with 4; Amazon has 2.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Astro Ulagam | Astro | 🇲🇾 Malaysia |
| Research Exchange | Wiley | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Engadget | Apollo | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Allrecipes | IAC | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Bossip | Urban One | 🇺🇸 United States |
| BOOK☆WALKER | Kadokawa | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| NAVER Blog | NAVER | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
| BMC | Springer Nature | 🇩🇪 Germany |
About the owner: Amazon
Amazon is a publicly listed company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States, founded in 1994. Brandtree records 11 brands under its control, and it is listed as NASDAQ: AMZN.
Amazon began selling books online in 1994 and is now among the largest companies in the world. Its 2017 purchase of Whole Foods Market gave it a physical grocery estate, and it has since built its own grocery and household brands sold through its store.
🇬🇧 IMDb and other British brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 552 brands that began in the United Kingdom. 291 of them (53%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, IMDb among them.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of IMDb?
The parent company of IMDb is Amazon, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United States.
Is IMDb British or American?
IMDb originated in the United Kingdom in 1990, but it is owned today by Amazon, which is headquartered in the United States. So IMDb is a British-origin brand under American ownership.
Since when has Amazon owned IMDb?
Amazon has owned IMDb since 27 April 1998.
Is IMDb still owned by Amazon?
Yes. As of 16 September 2026, IMDb is still owned by Amazon. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Amazon.com, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-02-06 — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 10-K, published 6 February 2026; retrieved 16 September 2026.
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