How Investing In Apple in 1995 Could Have Made You Rich Today
Written by
John Csiszar
Edited by
Levi Leidy
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Few consumer products companies are as beloved as Apple. Ever since the company went public 45 years ago on Dec. 12, 1980, it has built a cult following that has exploded into a global obsession. Currently the second-largest company in the S&P 500 stock index, Apple is a Wall Street darling as well. In fact, if you had invested $1,000 in the company just 30 years ago, you’d be a millionaire today.
Here’s a look at how investing in Apple back in 1995 could have made you rich — and the lessons you can learn from that enviable track record.
Humble Beginnings
Although Apple went public at a price of $22 per share, the company has split its stock five times since then. That means that Apple’s real, split-adjusted initial public offering (IPO) price was just $0.10 per share, per the company’s archives.
Although the company has had rabid followers since the beginning, it certainly endured its ups and downs. According to the Library of Congress research archives, the company began to lose market share in 1990, and by 1996, many analysts thought that Apple was finished. But in 1997, the famed Steve Jobs returned to Apple as interim CEO, and the company’s fortunes changed. In quick succession under Jobs, Apple introduced the iBook and the iPod and forged a software alliance with Microsoft. Soon, the company was off to the races again, eventually developing the iPhone, iPad, the Apple Watch and many other consumer-friendly products.
Long-Term Growth
According to Yahoo Finance, if you had bought one share of Apple on Dec. 1, 2025 — 30 years ago — you would have paid an adjusted price of $0.24 per share. If you bought 4,000 shares on that date, it would have cost you $960, just shy of $1,000.
Cut to Nov. 21, 2025, when Apple’s share price was $271.49. At this valuation, your 4,000 split-adjusted shares you bought 30 years ago would be worth $1,085,960. That’s an increase of over 113,000%.
If you had invested $10,000 instead of $1,000 back in 2025, the percentage gain would be the same, but your total net worth would have exploded. That initial $10,000 investment would be worth over $11 million today.
These results don’t factor in things like reinvested dividends, additional purchases or taxes. But the bottom line is that if you have the foresight to invest in Apple 30 years ago — a full 15 years after the company first went public — you’d still have unbelievable gains.
Lessons Learned
It’s important to note that while Apple was an obvious winner in hindsight, things were very different when the company went public in 1980 and even 15 years later in 1995.
Technology stocks come to market filled with hope and promise, but without execution, many of them go bankrupt or simply never become what investors want them to be. When Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne co-founded Apple back in 1976, it’s doubtful any of them imagined the business would reach a $4 trillion valuation and at one point become the largest company in America. But tech companies that get it right — and prove to have staying power — can be excellent investments.
Even a company as well-known and loved as Apple isn’t immune to wild swings in its share price. During the tech bubble of 2000, for example, Apple stock dropped a whopping 51.89% in a single day, on Sept. 29, 2000. That enormous drop no doubt shook out a lot of stockholders who decided they simply couldn’t handle the volatility. The lesson here is that even the very best companies in the world can try the patience of the average investor. This is why consistent, long-term investing in quality companies pays off. While traders and so-called “weak-handed” investors unloaded their Apple shares in 2000, those who held on have seen the stock recover to record high after record high, again and again.
Of course, one thing the stock market teaches is that it’s hard to pick a small company and expect it to grow into one of the largest in the world. Even with Apple, past performance is no guarantee of future results, and it’s probably unlikely that the stock will post these types of dramatic gains over the next 30 years. But for those with the insight, patience and even luck to have picked up shares of Apple three decades ago, and kept them, their investments have been richly rewarded.
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