LemonTrades
TL;DR
- Amazon has split its stock four times: 2-for-1 in 1998, 3-for-1 and 2-for-1 in 1999, and 20-for-1 on June 6, 2022.
- One share from the 1997 IPO is now 240 shares, so the $18 IPO price is 7.5 cents in today’s terms.
- No new split has been announced; at today’s price, one doesn’t look likely soon. Amazon also pays no dividend.
- LemonTrades tells you what moved Amazon, and why, as it happens, and warns you before its earnings.
Amazon went 23 years without a split, then did a big one in 2022. Here’s the full history and what it adds up to.
Amazon stock split history
| Split-adjusted trading began | Ratio | Shares from one IPO share |
|---|---|---|
| June 2, 1998 | 2-for-1 | 2 |
| January 5, 1999 | 3-for-1 | 6 |
| September 2, 1999 | 2-for-1 | 12 |
| June 6, 2022 | 20-for-1 | 240 |
The first three came in the dot-com boom, when Amazon’s stock rose more than tenfold in two years. Then it crashed by more than 90% in 2000–2001 and took years to recover, and the price climbed past $3,000 before the next split.
The 2022 split
Amazon announced the 20-for-1 split on March 9, 2022, along with a $10 billion buyback, when its stock was near $3,000. Shareholders of record on May 27 got 19 extra shares for each one, and split-adjusted trading began on June 6, 2022, closing at $124.79. The split also made Amazon’s price low enough to join the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which it did in February 2024.
Will Amazon split again?
There’s no announcement. Companies tend to split when the price is high enough to put off small buyers, often several hundred dollars or more; Amazon is far below its pre-2022 level. With fractional shares at most brokers, you can buy any dollar amount anyway: see how to buy a stock like Tesla for the steps. And if you’re wondering about income: does Amazon pay dividends?
Sources
Education, not financial advice. Split-adjusted figures from daily price data. See our disclaimer.
