Try your own numbers
it would be worth today
$23,861
+$22,861 profit23.9x22.3% a year
The same $1,000 in an S&P 500 index fund: $8,136
Its shares paid about $170.65 in dividends over the last 12 months.
Aftertax on the gain, you’d keep$20,432
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
$23,861.23
Total Profit
$22,861.23
Multiplier
23.9x
CAGR
22.3%
Max Drawdown
-30.5%
Inflation-Adjusted
$16,461.32
Benchmark Comparison
How does $1,000.00 invested in 2011 compare across different asset classes?
| Asset | Value Today | Return |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft | $23,861.23 | 23.9x |
| S&P 500 | $8,136.12 | 8.14x |
| Gold | $2,966.22 | 2.97x |
| Savings (2% APY) | $1,365.88 | 1.37x |
Dividends
Over the last 12 months, the 46.88 shares you'd own now paid about $170.65 in dividends (about $14.22 a month). That's 17% of the $1,000 put in.
Price growth alone turned $1,000 into $18,089; reinvested dividends added the other $5,772, 25% of the gain.
Dividends from Yahoo Finance. Shares today assume every dividend was reinvested.
Back in 2011
- In May 2011, Microsoft agreed to buy internet calling service Skype for $8.5 billion in cash; Skype had 170 million connected users. news.microsoft.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, Microsoft fell 1.8%, #50 of the 71 investments we track. The best was Bitcoin (+1,657%); the worst was Netflix (−60%). Full 2011 results →
$1,000 in Microsoft, year by year
Of the 71 investments we track that were available at the start of 2011, Microsoft ranks #14 by growth to today — just behind Amazon and ahead of Visa. See the full 2011 ranking →
Microsoft started 2011 15% below its start-of-2008 high, after falling 7.7% 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 $23,861 is more than it was worth at any January since. It rose in 13 of the 15 full years since. It moved ahead of the same $1,000 in the S&P 500 at the start of 2015 and has stayed ahead since. Month by month, the deepest fall ran from Dec 2021 ($15,211) to Oct 2022 ($10,567), a drop of 31%. At its lowest month-end, in May 2011, it was worth $903.01.
| When | Worth | Change | S&P 500 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start of 2011 | $1,000 | — | $1,000 |
| Start of 2012 | $982 | −1.8% | $1,021 |
| Start of 2013 | $1,042 | +6.1% | $1,185 |
| Start of 2014 | $1,444 | +39% | $1,568 |
| Start of 2015 | $1,866 | +29% | $1,783 |
| Start of 2016 | $2,247 | +20% | $1,808 |
| Start of 2017 | $2,636 | +17% | $2,024 |
| Start of 2018 | $3,702 | +40% | $2,465 |
| Start of 2019 | $4,430 | +20% | $2,357 |
| Start of 2020 | $7,150 | +61% | $3,100 |
| Start of 2021 | $9,793 | +37% | $3,670 |
| Start of 2022 | $15,185 | +55% | $4,723 |
| Start of 2023 | $10,970 | −28% | $3,868 |
| Start of 2024 | $17,132 | +56% | $4,885 |
| Start of 2025 | $19,481 | +14% | $6,107 |
| Start of 2026 | $22,033 | +13% | $7,199 |
| Today | $23,861 | +8.3% | $8,136 |
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, Microsoft was priced at $21.33 (adjusted for later splits and dividends). $1,000 would have bought about 46.88 shares. Microsoft makes Windows and Office and runs Azure, one of the largest cloud platforms.
Measured from one January to the next, Microsoft's best year since then was 2019 (+61%) and its worst was 2022 (−28%). Holding on wasn't easy: between the start of 2022 and the start of 2023, the position fell 28% from its high.
Frequently Asked Questions
A $1,000 investment in Microsoft at the start of 2011 would be worth approximately $23,861.23 today — a 23.9x return ($22,861.23 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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See how every stock and crypto ranked since 2011 →
$1,000 in Microsoft, by year
$1,000 in Microsoft:1 year ago5 years ago10 years ago
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