If indeed the public is looking for dividends, why is Amazon, a company that has never paid a dividend, such a valuable company?

Amazon has ~10 Billion outstanding shares and the current market price for one of those shares is ~$240.

If folks only care about dividends, why would anyone buy an Amazon share at that price?

Public money is looking for profits. Dividends are one way to get there. A better way to get to larger profits is selling the stock after it gets much more valuable. In the example above the growing company has a good chance of being worth much more a few years later, and that increases the value.