Walmart’s 1970 IPO Still Has a Lesson for SpaceX Buyers

A $1,000 investment in Walmart when it went public in 1970 would be worth about $38.9 million today. That makes Walmart the biggest IPO in US history, in terms of investment return.

The result is striking because Walmart's IPO was tiny by modern standards. It raised less than $5 million. SpaceX, which completed the largest IPO in US history this June, raised tens of billions. So how did such a small listing produce such an enormous return?

How Stock Splits Turned $1,000 Into $38.9 Million

When Walmart went public in October 1970, it sold 300,000 shares for $16.50 each, raising just $4.95 million. Its shares became much more valuable over the following 56 years. But looking at Walmart's share price today tells only a small part of the story. The key is stock splits.

A stock split gives investors more shares without changing the total value of their investment at the time. If a company does a two-for-one split, for example, someone holding one share suddenly owns two.

Walmart has done this 12 times since its IPO. As a result, one Walmart share bought in 1970 has turned into 6,144 shares today.

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