It has been exactly 20 years since Amazon.com made its initial public offering of stock, on May 15, 1997, and the company this morning marked the milestone by ringing the opening bell on the Nasdaq. The livestream has ended, but you can watch the archived video above.
Brian Olsavsky, the company’s chief financial officer, rang the bell along with people representing the company’s employees and customers.
Amazon would have been a roller-coaster ride for anyone who bought IPO shares and held onto the stock. However, if you did buy $1,000 worth of shares at the IPO price of $18 a share, your investment would have soared to more than $634,000 today, adjusted for stock splits. (Amazon closed last week at 961.35, and its three stock splits, including one 3-for-1 split, would have turned those original 55 shares into 660 shares.)
Kicking off the event, Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman said it was “Day 1 of the next 20 years of Amazon.”
“Even after 20 years, it is still very much Day 1 for Amazon” Amazon CFO, Brian Olsavsky at @NASDAQ for the 20 year anniversary of our IPO https://t.co/0hE4Vumppj
— Amazon News (@amazonnews) May 15, 2017