It would have been a great chance to invest in Meta when it was initially began, as today it is an international technology powerhouse. But since Meta went public in 2012, we can see what would have happened if you had put $1,000 into its IPO on May 18, 2012. In this article, we will walk you through the stock history of Meta over the years and compute the possible returns on such an investment.
Meta’s IPO and early years
Meta Platforms Inc., formerly Facebook, went public on the stock exchange with an IPO price of $38 per share on May 18, 2012. The firm floated 421,233,615 shares and raised $16 billion, a record at that time1. The stock performed poorly initially, dropping significantly in the post-IPO period. In September 2012, the stock had dropped to around $17.73 per share.
Calculating the investment
Had you invested $1,000 in the IPO of Meta, you would have bought about 26.3 shares ($1,000 ÷ $38 per share). To determine the worth of your investment today, we must take into account the present stock price of Meta.
As of early 2025, the stock price of Meta was about $655.053. Your investment would thus be about $17,281.59 (26.3 shares × $655.05 per share).
Growth and challenges
Meta has also been confronted with a series of issues, ranging from regulatory issues to competition from other technology giants. In spite of these, the company diversified when it bought Instagram and WhatsApp, which enormously widened its user base and revenues.
Market performance over the years
Meta’s share performance has been unpredictable, with massive swings over the years:
- 2012-2013: Post-IPO, the stock was bad, but things started looking up in 2013 as the year ended at $54.44.
- 2014-2017: The stock kept on going up with robust earnings and user growth, to $175.79 in 2017.
- 2018-2020: Meta had issues because of privacy and regulatory issues, causing the stock price to go down. It picked up again in 2020 because of people being more online during the pandemic.
- 2021-2022: The company shares declined in 2022 due to economic uncertainty and heightened competition.
- 2023-2025: Meta’s stock also recorded a strong comeback with the share price zooming immensely in 2023 and carrying on into 2025.
Investing $1,000 in the IPO of Meta back in 2012 would have earned a healthy profit by early 2025, with your investment potentially valued at more than $17,000. This is a phenomenal increase of more than 1,600% over the period. In spite of the tumultuous start and continued problems, Meta’s smart acquisitions and domination of social media have seen it achieve ultimate success. As the tech sector keeps on growing, investors remain intensely interested in watching what the future holds for Meta.
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