Apple IPO anniversary: How much would a $1,000 investment be worth today?

Apple on Thursday marked the 44th anniversary of the tech giant’s initial public offering (IPO) just days after its market capitalization reached a new all-time high that emphasized its growth over the last four decades.

Apple shares reached $250.42 during Wednesday’s trading session, an all-time high that followed a record close of $247.70 at the end of Tuesday’s trading day. 

Though it has since declined from that peak to just under $248 a share during Thursday’s session, the company’s market capitalization of $3.74 trillion remains near its all-time high.

Apple’s stock surge coincides with the 44th anniversary of its IPO, which was held on Dec. 12, 1980. Investors who bought Apple stock at that time – which was priced at $22 per share at the time of IPO – and held it for four decades would have seen massive growth in the value of that investment.

THE MASSIVE DOLLAR AMOUNT COMPANIES SPEND ON SECURITY FOR EXECUTIVES

The company has conducted five stock splits since its IPO, so when accounting for those, the split-adjusted basis for an Apple share at the time of the IPO was $0.10 per share.

If an investor had bought $1,000 worth of Apple shares at the time of the company’s IPO, they would have acquired a total of 45 shares. 

Apple conducted a trio of two-for-one stock splits in 1987, 2000 and 2005, as well as a seven-for-one split in 2014 and a four-for-one split in 2020. 

APPLE INTELLIGENCE HAS ARRIVED. HERE’S HOW TO UPDATE YOUR DEVICE TO GET IT

Taken together, those splits increased Apple’s share count by a factor of 224, meaning that the initial 45 shares bought for $1,000 44 years ago would have grown into 10,080 shares.

Based on Thursday’s closing price of $247.96, that means the initial $1,000 investment would now be worth nearly $2.5 million – or $2,499,436.80, to be precise – without accounting for the reinvestment of dividends, which Apple started offering to shareholders in 2012.