A Fortune Made From Amazon Stock
By Jim Bauer
@porwest (90823)
United States
January 20, 2024 7:34am CST
I am a curious man when it comes to money. One of the stocks I sort of "missed out" on was Amazon stock when it first IPOed back in 1997 at $18 a share. Over the years it has had its ups and downs and had to weather through the dot com bust.
But it survived. And grew, and grew, and grew. The company at the time of its initial public offering of common stock was worth $300 million. Today the company is worth $1.6 trillion.
I recall at the time saying, when I first looked at whether or not I wanted to invest, "It's a bookstore." And at the time selling books was a highly competitive market with many other players competing.
I did not see it becoming what it ultimately became and decided not to invest.
Had you invested $1000 at the time of the IPO in May of 1997, today that investment would be worth $1.9 million.
I do own Amazon currently. But I invested in it for the first time long after the IPO, and certainly have never seen the kinds of gains that $1000 would have made had I been an early investor in the company.
But it certainly shows the power of investing if you invest in the right company at the right time.
7 people like this
8 responses
@moffittjc (121582)
• Gainesville, Florida
20 Jan
I missed the boat just as you did, for the same reason you did. I also said, “It’s an online bookstore.” Boy, did you and I miss out!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121582)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Jan
@porwest Nah, don't feel like an idiot. It was a good learning experience for you. Neither one of us thought it would take off like it did.
1 person likes this
@porwest (90823)
• United States
22 Jan
@moffittjc Still. I'd have a bigger truck. I'd have a bigger camper. I'd be in FLORIDA not dealing with this damn ice storm. lol
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@mildredtabitha (16126)
• Nairobi, Kenya
20 Jan
@porwest You mean I'm chatting with a CEO!
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (41427)
• United States
24 Jan
I sure would love to have Amazon stock that I'd had for years.
I buy a lot of things on Amazon except for groceries, but I'm sure that will happen, just maybe in my lifetime.
With products being locked up behind glass, I'm shopping even more on Amazon and less in Walmart.
1 person likes this
@porwest (90823)
• United States
27 Jan
I still tend more towards bricks and mortar. But then, Amazon is much more than a retailer. In fact, it's only a small portion of their business. The cloud and other technology is a much bigger part. I have owned shares in the past and do own shares now, but never made enormous amounts on it, although I have done very well nonetheless.
I am adding shares as we speak at the $150 range simply because I believe it's a $200+ stock in relative short time. It still has a TON of upside and so I still find it to be a stock that one can make a lot of money with.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (178568)
• United States
21 Jan
My husband wanted me to invest; but I was super cautious and didn't do it. I certainly wish I had!!! Have a good day.
1 person likes this
@porwest (90823)
• United States
22 Jan
@LindaOHio Maybe I will start working on it. Series sometimes do well here. Your "what you ate" posts definitely get traction, and that's definitely a series.
1 person likes this
@porwest (90823)
• United States
20 Jan
A great book to read, although I am not sure how useful it would be in Kenya, is Benjamin Graham's Th Intelligent Investor. No matter where a business operates, the fundamentals and basic concepts of business and investment still apply. It could be at least enlightening to understand business, how to evaluate it, and how to decide which ones are good ones and which ones are bad ones.
@Tampa_girl7 (50250)
• United States
20 Jan
Those that invested in it really hit the jackpot.
1 person likes this
@TraveOnWorld (854)
• Georgia
20 Jan
Agree with you: investment is like comedy - timing is everything.
I had my chance as well, grr. In 1999 an investment advisor told me that Amazon is a flash in the pan with no real value and a CEO who is too big for his boots. I was advised that I would be better in the long term going for HP shares (that was at the height of the Carly Fiorina kerfuffle). I prevailed on that adviser and had a buy order set up for $2 000 in Amazon shares but could not get exchange control permission to take money out of the country. Pity that.
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