What If You Invested $1,000 in Google in 2013?

Worth Today

$18,871.09

+$17,871.09 profit18.9x

Invested

$1,000.00

CAGR

23.8%

Time Period

13.7 years

Return

+1,787%

A $1,000 investment in Google at the start of 2013 would be worth approximately $18,871.09 today — a 18.9x return representing a 23.8% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over 13.7 years.

Try your own numbers

If I had putintoat the start of…

it would be worth today

$18,871

+$17,871 profit18.9x23.8% a year

The same $1,000 in an S&P 500 index fund: $6,872

Its shares paid about $48.10 in dividends over the last 12 months.

Aftertax on the gain, you’d keep$16,190

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

$18,871.09

Total Profit

$17,871.09

Multiplier

18.9x

CAGR

23.8%

Max Drawdown

-40.2%

Inflation-Adjusted

$13,487.62

Benchmark Comparison

How does $1,000.00 invested in 2013 compare across different asset classes?

AssetValue TodayReturn
Google$18,871.0918.9x
S&P 500$6,872.026.87x
Gold$2,508.182.51x
Savings (2% APY)$1,312.791.31x

Dividends

Over the last 12 months, the 55.93 shares you'd own now paid about $48.10 in dividends (about $4.01 a month). That's 4.8% of the $1,000 put in.

Price growth alone turned $1,000 into $18,694; reinvested dividends added the other $177.39, 1% of the gain.

Dividends from Yahoo Finance. Shares today assume every dividend was reinvested.

Back in 2013

  • In July 2013, Google launched Chromecast, a small plug-in device that streams YouTube, Netflix and other content from phones and laptops to a TV. techcrunch.com
  • In 2013, a gallon of gas averaged $3.50, a movie ticket averaged $8.13 and the new iPhone 5s started at $199 with a two-year contract. eia.govcnn.comhollywoodreporter.com
  • During 2013 itself, Google rose 54%, #17 of the 76 investments we track. The best was Bitcoin (+5,689%); the worst was Gold ETF (GLD) (−28%). Full 2013 results →

$1,000 in Google, year by year

Of the 76 investments we track that were available at the start of 2013, Google ranks #17 by growth to today — just behind Amazon and ahead of MicroStrategy. See the full 2013 ranking →

Google started 2013 at its highest start-of-year price up to then, after rising 8.7% in 2012. It has been worth more than the $1,000 put in at every January since, and still is today. Today's $18,871 is more than it was worth at any January since. It rose in 10 of the 13 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 Oct 2021 ($8,213) to Dec 2022 ($4,915), a drop of 40%.

WhenWorthChangeS&P 500
Start of 2013$1,000—$1,000
Start of 2014$1,539+54%$1,324
Start of 2015$1,452−5.6%$1,505
Start of 2016$2,059+42%$1,526
Start of 2017$2,182+5.9%$1,708
Start of 2018$2,956+35%$2,081
Start of 2019$2,903−1.8%$1,990
Start of 2020$3,795+31%$2,617
Start of 2021$4,797+26%$3,098
Start of 2022$8,053+68%$3,988
Start of 2023$4,979−38%$3,265
Start of 2024$7,747+56%$4,124
Start of 2025$10,620+37%$5,156
Start of 2026$17,601+66%$6,077
Today$18,871+7.2%$6,872

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 2013, Google was priced at $17.88 (adjusted for later splits and dividends). $1,000 would have bought about 55.93 shares. Alphabet is the parent company of Google, YouTube and Google Cloud. This page uses its Class C shares (GOOG).

Measured from one January to the next, Google's best year since then was 2021 (+68%) and its worst was 2022 (−38%). Holding on wasn't easy: between the start of 2022 and the start of 2023, the position fell 38% from its high.

Frequently Asked Questions

A $1,000 investment in Google at the start of 2013 would be worth approximately $18,871.09 today — a 18.9x return ($17,871.09 profit) over 13.7 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 2013 (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 of2013 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.

Other investments from 2013

See how every stock and crypto ranked since 2013 →

$1,000 in Google, by year

$1,000 in Google:1 year ago5 years ago10 years ago

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