$10,000 Invested in Mark Zuckerberg's Meta a Decade Ago Is Worth This Much Today

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) conscionable closed retired rather an eventful week. Shares of the societal media elephantine jumped astir 6% connected Friday unsocial arsenic investors lukewarm backmost up to CEO Mark Zuckerberg's assertive artificial quality (AI) strategy.

The institution has fixed them plentifulness to enactment with this year. Growth is accelerating, its caller AI laboratory released its archetypal exemplary this spring, and superior spending guidance present tops $125 billion.

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But let's zoom retired for a second. How has the banal done implicit the agelong haul? Specifically, however overmuch would $10,000 invested successful Meta a decennary agone beryllium worthy today?

How the mathematics works retired

In 2016, Meta -- past inactive called Facebook -- traded astatine an mean terms of astir $116 per share. A $10,000 concern astatine that terms would person bought astir 86 shares. With the banal trading adjacent $670 arsenic of this writing, those shares would beryllium worthy astir $57,600 today, a astir sixfold gain.

And dividends sweeten the full a little. Meta initiated its first-ever dividend successful aboriginal 2024 astatine $0.50 per stock quarterly, and the quarterly payout present stands astatine $0.525 per share. Those 86 shares would person collected a spot implicit $400 successful dividends truthful far, bringing the full worth to astir $58,000.

That works retired to a compound yearly maturation complaint of astir 19%.

The motor hasn't slowed

Of course, nary of that instrumentality is disposable to anyone buying today. What matters present is whether the concern that produced it is inactive performing.

What impresses maine astir is that 10 years in, Meta's maturation is accelerating, not fading. Revenue roseate 22% successful 2025 to $201.0 billion, and the maturation complaint stepped up done the year, from 24% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth successful the 4th fourth to 33% successful the archetypal 4th of 2026, erstwhile gross deed $56.3 billion. The look hasn't changed, either. The institution sells much ads, astatine higher prices, crossed Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Ad impressions roseate 19% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth successful the archetypal quarter, the mean terms per advertisement roseate 12%, and an mean of 3.56 cardinal radical utilized astatine slightest 1 of Meta's apps each time successful March.

All that advertizing produces tremendous profits. Meta's first-quarter operating income roseate 30% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth to $22.9 billion. And shareholders are seeing plentifulness of the cash. The institution spent implicit $26 cardinal connected stock repurchases successful 2025, paid different astir $5 cardinal successful dividends and dividend equivalents, and inactive ended the twelvemonth with much than $81 cardinal successful currency and marketable securities.