Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) stocks have created millionaires in their nearly three decades on the market. If you were lucky enough to buy a stock at its IPO (IPO), you would have a lot more shares today, and you would be richer. Amazon’s most recent stock split took place in 2022, but there have been several. Let’s see what your position would be today.
Amazon has split his shares four times since its initial public offering in 1997, measures that increased the number of shares while lowering the price per share. The first three splits happened immediately, as Amazon grew by leaps and bounds, and its incredible performance was reflected in a rapidly rising stock price. It split in March 1998 in a 2-for-1 split, and then again in November 1998 in a 3-for-1 split. In 1999 it underwent another 2-for-1 split. Things were quiet for the next 23 years, but Amazon’s price tag rose into the four figures, eventually splitting again in a 20-for-1 split in 2022.
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Amazon’s shares were priced at $18 at the IPO, but after adjusting for the split, the price for that first share would be $0.075. If you had bought one share at the IPO, you would have 240 shares today. Those shares would be worth $47,280 as I write this.
If you had bought just one share, you wouldn’t be able to retire yet. But investors typically don’t buy just one stock. If you had invested $100 on the first day of trading, you would have shares worth over $200,000 today, which is probably not enough to retire either, but it is a nice chunk of change.
Amazon stock has been through some tough times, but buying and holding companies you trust can lead to wealth creation in the long run. Today, Amazon doesn’t offer the same earth-shattering returns as an IPO, but back then it was more of a risk, and now it offers growth with more certainty.
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