Locals feared the controversial Amazon founder was visiting the island with the intention to purchase precious land.

What began as a way to sell books in Jeff Bezos’ garage has transformed into a behemoth with a market cap of $2.3 trillion, making Bezos a billionaire and one of the world’s richest people.

For the first time, Amazon (AMZN) has surpassed Walmart (WMT) in annual revenue. The online retailer famously founded by Jeff ...