The Bureau of Historic Losses · Counterfactual Division
What if you'd bought Apple in 2003?
iPod era, years before the iPhone. Apple was a recovering underdog — and about to begin the single best decade any large company has had.
$100 on 2003-01-02, worth today
US$131,436
As of 2026-06-12, $100 of Apple bought at 2003's open (US$0.222) is worth US$131,436 — 1,314×.
total return · dividends reinvested · USD
How much would $100 of Apple bought in 2003 be worth today?
| You'd have put in | You'd have now | Multiple |
|---|---|---|
| US$100 | US$131,436 | 1,314× |
| US$1,000 | US$1.3M | 1,314× |
| US$10,000 | US$13.1M | 1,314× |
Lump sum on the year's first trading day, total return (dividends reinvested, splits adjusted), valued at the latest close. Past performance isn't a promise — it's a taunt.
What did Apple do in 2003?
Opened
US$0.222
2003-01-02
Peaked
US$0.371
2003-10-15
Bottomed
US$0.196
2003-04-17
Closed
US$0.320
2003-12-31
Levels are dividend-adjusted, so historical figures look lower than the headline price of the day — that's the total-return lens, and it's the honest one.
Would steady buying have beaten going all in?
US$122,400 deployed as $100 a week from 2003-01-02, under four temperaments — same money, different nerves.
| All in on day one | US$160.9M |
| Steady weekly buys | US$12.9M |
| Sold dips, rebought rallies | US$7M |
| Traded it perfectly | US$33.1M |
“Traded it perfectly” requires knowing the future. Nobody knew the future.
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