JACKpot: How Much Investing $1,000 In Square, Twitter IPOs Would Be Worth Today

Taking social network and fintech startups public was a lofty goal for most founders. For many, going public cemented their legitimacy and offered a lucrative payday. But what happened if you put $1,000 on two companies that went public that were run by the same person? 

The Story Of Twitter, Square And Jack Dorsey: Jack Dorsey, the founder of both companies, focused on Square SQ after being ousted from Twitter TWTR.

Eventually, he came back to the social media platform and has since been running both companies, albeit not without controversy. 

Twitter went public in 2013 with 70 million common shares at an IPO price of $26. On the first day of trading, shares exploded, topping $50.

Since then, it’s been a free fall, dropping to as low as $12.79 in February 2017. The highest it’s reached since IPO day was rallying to $48.13 in August 2014.

Investing $1,000 in Twitter’s IPO would be worth $1,304 today. 

Square went public in 2015 with an initial IPO price of $9, but finished the first day of trading at $11.20. Unlike Twitter, Square has seen a steady stock increase. Between 2018 and March 2020 shares, fluctuated between $40 and $80 before hitting a low of $36.63 in March.

Since then, the stock has seen exponential growth and increased to as high as $133.81.

A $1,000 investment in Square on IPO day would be worth $12,985.

If you're a big fan of Jack and invested $1,000 each in both companies, today you would have $14,289 based on July 7 stock prices. 

Summer 2020 And Beyond: Both Twitter and Square have been extremely picky about acquisitions.

Unlike other companies such as Facebook FB, they have not acquired everything in their path. Twitter notably acquired Vine, and Square owns Cashapp. Both of these companies have arguably enhanced their respective buyers' original platform and helped with their overall growth strategy.

Twitter, like any social media platform, is at the mercy of trends.

Square is seeing increased growth due to an aggressive strategy of being instrumental in the future of banking and finance in the country. Square has little competition and with technology that could shape the future of financial transactions, don’t expect shares to drop too much in value.

Photo by Mark Warner via Wikimedia.