Try your own numbers
it would be worth today
$1,354
+$353.55 profit1.35x3.2% a year
The same $1,000 in an S&P 500 index fund: $4,022
Its shares paid about $14.07 in dividends over the last 12 months.
Aftertax on the gain, you’d keep$1,301
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
$1,353.55
Total Profit
$353.55
Multiplier
1.35x
CAGR
3.2%
Max Drawdown
-85.1%
Inflation-Adjusted
$1,017.66
Benchmark Comparison
How does $1,000.00 invested in 2017 compare across different asset classes?
| Asset | Value Today | Return |
|---|---|---|
| PayPal | $1,353.55 | 1.35x |
| S&P 500 | $4,022.42 | 4.02x |
| Gold | $3,650.04 | 3.65x |
| Savings (2% APY) | $1,212.82 | 1.21x |
Dividends
Over the last 12 months, the 25.12 shares you'd own now paid about $14.07 in dividends (about $1.17 a month). That's 1.4% of the $1,000 put in.
Price growth alone turned $1,000 into $1,339; reinvested dividends added the other $14.89, 4.2% of the gain.
Dividends from Yahoo Finance. Shares today assume every dividend was reinvested.
Back in 2017
- In July 2017, PayPal sold the X.com domain back to Elon Musk, whose company X.com had merged with Confinity in 2000 and later became PayPal. theverge.com
- In 2017, a gallon of gas averaged $2.42, a movie ticket averaged $8.97 and the new iPhone X started at $999. eia.govapple.comdeadline.com
- During 2017 itself, PayPal rose 83%, #12 of the 87 investments we track. The best was XRP (+36,408%); the worst was AMC Entertainment (−54%). Full 2017 results →
$1,000 in PayPal, year by year
Of the 87 investments we track that were available at the start of 2017, PayPal ranks #80 by growth to today, in the bottom quarter — just behind Pfizer and ahead of Alibaba. See the full 2017 ranking →
PayPal started 2017 at its highest start-of-year price up to then, after rising 16% in 2016. It has been worth more than the $1,000 put in at every January since, and still is today. Its best January was 2021, at $5,761. Today it's 77% below that, so selling then would have beaten holding. It rose in 5 of the 9 full years since. It fell behind the same $1,000 in the S&P 500 at the start of 2023 and hasn't caught up. Month by month, the deepest fall ran from Jun 2021 ($7,315) to Jun 2026 ($1,093), a drop of 85%.
| When | Worth | Change | S&P 500 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start of 2017 | $1,000 | — | $1,000 |
| Start of 2018 | $1,834 | +83% | $1,218 |
| Start of 2019 | $2,130 | +16% | $1,165 |
| Start of 2020 | $2,751 | +29% | $1,532 |
| Start of 2021 | $5,761 | +109% | $1,814 |
| Start of 2022 | $4,843 | −16% | $2,334 |
| Start of 2023 | $1,853 | −62% | $1,911 |
| Start of 2024 | $1,527 | −18% | $2,414 |
| Start of 2025 | $2,141 | +40% | $3,018 |
| Start of 2026 | $1,448 | −32% | $3,557 |
| Today | $1,354 | −6.5% | $4,022 |
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 2017, PayPal was priced at $39.81 (adjusted for later splits and dividends). $1,000 would have bought about 25.12 shares. PayPal runs online payments, including Venmo. It was spun off from eBay in July 2015.
Measured from one January to the next, PayPal's best year since then was 2020 (+109%) and its worst was 2022 (−62%). Holding on wasn't easy: between the start of 2021 and the start of 2026, the position fell 75% from its high.
Frequently Asked Questions
A $1,000 investment in PayPal at the start of 2017 would be worth approximately $1,353.55 today — a 1.35x return ($353.55 profit) over 9.7 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 2017 (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 of2017 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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$1,000 in PayPal, by year
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