Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Sep 16, 2025

If You Invested $5,000 in Facebook’s IPO, This Is How Much Money You'd Have Now

If You Invested $5,000 in Facebook’s IPO, This Is How Much Money You'd Have Now

Buying in at the IPO might have been something to brag about in 2012, but patient investors who used a different approach are the ones bragging now.

When a company's stock gets released to the public in an initial public offering (IPO), there's usually not much news coverage outside of the financial media outlets. But that was not the case in 2012 when Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) announced its go-public event. It was hard to avoid the buzz leading up to the stock's release day, and many social networking fans who had never invested in stocks before were interested in getting in on the action.

Let's take a look back at the early years at Facebook to understand why investors were so excited about this company going public. Then we'll dive into the IPO calculations and discuss an alternative approach that would have been even more lucrative.


Facebook was a hit from Day One

It all started in 2004 when then-freshman Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started "TheFacebook" as a way for students at the university to connect online. The announcement of the site was sent to an email distribution list of 300 students, but within the first 24 hours, four times that many had registered. In the first few years, the service was only available for college students, but even with that limitation, it reached 6 million members by December 2005. The torrid growth didn't seem to slow down. When the IPO rolled around in May 2012, the platform had an amazing 526 million daily active users across the globe and had achieved a $4 billion annual revenue run rate.

No wonder people were excited about the opportunity to own stock with this amazing growth story.


Getting in at the beginning

The stock was offered at $38 per share via the IPO. Let's assume you bought 132 shares for a total of $5,016 on May 18, 2012, and held all the way through to today. In the meantime, Facebook continued its incredible growth and has turned into a global juggernaut. The table below compares Q1 2012, the last quarter before its IPO, to its most recently reported results for Q2 2019

Shareholders have shared in the company's success. At today's price of around $191 per share, those 132 shares would be worth $25,212, resulting in a market-beating five-bagger.

Any investor should be happy with that result, but there was a way to improve your returns with a simple strategy.


A different approach with better results

Facebook's IPO was largely viewed as a failure. In the days following the stock's release, it dropped - and dropped and dropped. The stock stayed below the $38 mark for months and finally bottomed out in September 2012 below $18.

The shares didn't get back to the initial $38 again until August the following year, a full 16 months later. This was a tough pill to swallow for those who bought on Day One. But one approach that investors can use to help in a case like this is to buy in thirds.

The idea is that you can get in on the stock with a small initial investment but have cash left to invest later. If the stock goes lower, you don't feel too bad, because you have money available and can add to your position at a better price. If the stock starts to rise, as a shareholder, you can be comforted that you are capturing the gains.

With 20/20 hindsight, we can see how this strategy would have paid off for Facebook IPO investors. Let's assume you invested one-third of your available cash at the IPO and the remaining two-thirds split between buys at six months and at one year later.

With this approach, you would have 47 more shares and a 26% lower cost basis. Today, those 179 shares at the $191 price would be worth $34,189, or almost 36% more than just investing at the IPO.

Buying in thirds doesn't always pay off monetarily, but it can help manage your temperament if the stock loses value. Red numbers in your portfolio are tough to look at. Some investors might be tempted to sell, especially when numbers remain in the red for what seems like an eternity. Early Facebook shareholders who chose a buy-in-thirds approach not only would have achieved better results, but more importantly, they were more likely to hold their shares through the first 16 months of disappointing returns.


10 stocks we like better than Facebook

When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has quadrupled the market.*

David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now… and Facebook wasn't one of them! That's right - they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
The German Owner of Politico Mathias Döpfner Eyes Further U.S. Media Expansion After Axel Springer Restructuring
Suspect Arrested: Utah Man in Custody for Charlie Kirk’s Fatal Shooting
In a politically motivated trial: Bolsonaro Sentenced to 27 Years for Plotting Coup After 2022 Defeat
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
ChatGPT CEO signals policy to alert authorities over suicidal youth after teen’s death
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
Starmer Establishes Economic ‘Budget Board’ to Centralise Policy and Rebuild Business Trust
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Brazilian police say ex-President Bolsonaro had planned to flee to Argentina seeking asylum
Trinidad Leader Applauds U.S. Naval Strike and Advocates Forceful Action Against Traffickers
Kim Jong Un Oversees Final Test of New High-Thrust Solid-Fuel Rocket Engine
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Supreme Court temporarily allows Trump to pause billions in foreign aid
Charlie Sheen says his father, Martin Sheen, turned him in to the police: 'The greatest betrayal possible'
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
×