If You Bought $170 Worth of Starbucks Stock in 1992, You’d Be Sitting on This Much Now
Written by
Vance Cariaga
Edited by
Zuri Anderson
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Most companies go public to raise money for expansion, and sometimes the results are staggering. Just look at Starbucks.
When the coffee company completed its initial public offering in 1992, it had 165 stores — all in North America. A decade later, it boasted nearly 6,000 stores on three different continents. Today it’s the world’s largest coffee brand with more than 40,000 stores in more than 80 countries.
While Starbucks has grown way beyond what many might have imagined following its 1992 IPO, investors who were lucky enough to get in on the ground floor have seen their investments skyrocket, as well.
Here’s much money you would be sitting on now if you invested $170 into Starbucks over three decades ago. Also find out how much money you’d make if you invested $5 per day instead of a cup of Starbucks coffee.
How Much Was Starbucks’ Stock in 1992?
As Motley Fool reported, Starbucks’ 1992 IPO price was $17 a share. The stock currently trades at around $93. That’s a pretty decent gain just on the share price alone, but it doesn’t begin to tell the story of how much money original investors have earned.
When assessing the return since Starbucks’ IPO, you also need to factor in the fact that the stock has split six times over the decades. All were 2-for-1 stock splits, according to a company fact sheet — the first in August 1993 and the most recent in March 2015.
When a stock has a 2-for-1 split, you essentially get double the number of shares that you had before. When it splits six times, your number of shares doubles by a factor of six.
For example, suppose you bought 10 shares of Starbucks stock following its IPO, for a total investment of $170. Here’s how those shares would have grown each year the stock split:
| Year | Split | Number of Shares |
| 1993 | 2-for-1 | 20 |
| 1995 | 2-for-1 | 40 |
| 1999 | 2-for-1 | 80 |
| 2001 | 2-for-1 | 160 |
| 2005 | 2-for-1 | 320 |
| 2015 | 2-for-1 | 640 |
As shown above, the 10 shares you bought following the 1992 IPO have now grown to 640 shares. Because each of those 640 shares is now worth about $93, your original 10-share investment of $170 in 1992 would be worth $59,520 today.
Needless to say, that’s an excellent return on your money — and it doesn’t even account for the quarterly dividends Starbucks pays investors. Here were the dividends paid in 2024:
- Q1: $0.57 a share
- Q2: $0.57 Â
- Q3: $0.61
- Q4: $0.61
What Does This Mean for Investors Today?
Long-term investors have obviously benefited from Starbucks’ rapid global expansion, but that’s not the only reason. They’ve also benefited from an innovative business model that has seen the company broaden its reach in numerous areas.
These innovations include everything from opening its own roasting facilities and expanding its menu to developing unique customer loyalty programs, offering drive-thru service, selling products at other retail chains, and harnessing AI and other technologies to improve the customer experience and operate more efficiently.
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