Try your own numbers
it would be worth today
$26,831
+$25,831 profit26.8x23.2% a year
The same $1,000 in an S&P 500 index fund: $8,140
Aftertax on the gain, you’d keep$22,956
US federal long-term rates: 15% for most people, 0% on lower incomes, 20% + 3.8% on high incomes. No state tax included; none inside a Roth IRA.
Growth Over Time
Performance Metrics
Total Invested
$1,000.00
Current Value
$26,830.62
Total Profit
$25,830.62
Multiplier
26.8x
CAGR
23.2%
Max Drawdown
-52.1%
Inflation-Adjusted
$18,509.83
Benchmark Comparison
How does $1,000.00 invested in 2011 compare across different asset classes?
| Asset | Value Today | Return |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon | $26,830.62 | 26.8x |
| S&P 500 | $8,140.12 | 8.14x |
| Gold | $2,956.51 | 2.96x |
| Savings (2% APY) | $1,365.87 | 1.37x |
Dividends
Amazon paid no dividends over this period, so the whole return came from its share price.
Dividends from Yahoo Finance. Shares today assume every dividend was reinvested.
Back in 2011
- In February 2011, Amazon added unlimited, commercial-free streaming of more than 5,000 movies and TV shows to Prime at no extra cost, keeping membership at $79 a year. press.aboutamazon.com
- In 2011, a gallon of gas averaged $3.52, a movie ticket averaged $7.93 and the new iPhone 4S started at $199 with a two-year contract. eia.govapple.comthewrap.com
- During 2011 itself, Amazon fell 2.8%, #51 of the 71 investments we track. The best was Bitcoin (+1,657%); the worst was Netflix (−60%). Full 2011 results →
$1,000 in Amazon, year by year
Of the 71 investments we track that were available at the start of 2011, Amazon ranks #13 by growth to today — just behind Netflix and ahead of Microsoft. See the full 2011 ranking →
Amazon started 2011 at its highest start-of-year price up to then, after rising 37% in 2010. It was worth less than the $1,000 put in at the start of 2012, and has been above it since the start of 2013. Today's $26,831 is more than it was worth at any January since. It rose in 12 of the 15 full years since. It moved ahead of the same $1,000 in the S&P 500 at the start of 2016 and has stayed ahead since. Month by month, the deepest fall ran from Nov 2021 ($19,049) to Dec 2022 ($9,125), a drop of 52%. At its lowest month-end, in Dec 2011, it was worth $940.20.
| When | Worth | Change | S&P 500 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start of 2011 | $1,000 | — | $1,000 |
| Start of 2012 | $972 | −2.8% | $1,021 |
| Start of 2013 | $1,397 | +44% | $1,185 |
| Start of 2014 | $2,161 | +55% | $1,568 |
| Start of 2015 | $1,675 | −22% | $1,783 |
| Start of 2016 | $3,458 | +106% | $1,808 |
| Start of 2017 | $4,091 | +18% | $2,024 |
| Start of 2018 | $6,455 | +58% | $2,465 |
| Start of 2019 | $8,356 | +29% | $2,357 |
| Start of 2020 | $10,304 | +23% | $3,100 |
| Start of 2021 | $17,300 | +68% | $3,670 |
| Start of 2022 | $18,503 | +7.0% | $4,723 |
| Start of 2023 | $9,318 | −50% | $3,868 |
| Start of 2024 | $16,279 | +75% | $4,885 |
| Start of 2025 | $23,911 | +47% | $6,107 |
| Start of 2026 | $24,593 | +2.9% | $7,199 |
| Today | $26,831 | +9.1% | $8,140 |
Values at the start of each year (first trading day for stocks). The S&P 500 column includes reinvested dividends, like the stock values.
Historical Context
At the start of 2011, Amazon was priced at $9.21 (adjusted for later splits and dividends). $1,000 would have bought about 109 shares. Amazon runs the world's largest online store and Amazon Web Services (AWS), its cloud-computing business.
Measured from one January to the next, Amazon's best year since then was 2015 (+106%) and its worst was 2022 (−50%). Holding on wasn't easy: between the start of 2022 and the start of 2023, the position fell 50% from its high.
Frequently Asked Questions
A $1,000 investment in Amazon at the start of 2011 would be worth approximately $26,830.62 today — a 26.8x return ($25,830.62 profit) over 15.7 years.
Methodology & Sources
Price data: Historical prices are the closing price on the first trading day of each year, adjusted for splits and dividends (so returns assume dividends were reinvested), from Yahoo Finance and MacroTrends. Current prices come from Yahoo Finance and refresh hourly; if that source is unavailable, the last saved price is used.
Calculation: Assumes a single purchase at the start of 2011 (or the first trading day, for companies that listed that year), held until today. No transaction fees, taxes, or slippage are included.
Benchmarks: The S&P 500 comparison uses the S&P 500 Total Return index (dividends reinvested, like an index fund) at the start of2011 and today. Gold uses the price per troy ounce. Savings account assumes a 2% APY compounded annually.
Inflation adjustment: Uses U.S. CPI-U annual averages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The 2026 CPI value is estimated.
Educational purposes only. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Not financial advice.
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What If You Invested $1,000 in Tesla in 2011?
Apple · 2011
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See how every stock and crypto ranked since 2011 →
$1,000 in Amazon, by year
$1,000 in Amazon:1 year ago5 years ago10 years ago
Compare:Amazon vs GoogleNetflix vs AmazonAmazon vs S&P 500
Instead of…first Kindle (2007)