What if you invested in Alphabet (Google) in 2004?

GOOGL · Technology · Data through 2026-06-01

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If you invested $1,000 in Alphabet (Google) in 2004

$147,878today
+14687.8% total return|+24.9% annualized

The same $1,000 in the S&P 500 would be worth $10,045(+904.5%)

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The S&P 500 returned $10,045 on the same $1,000. Alphabet (Google) beat the market by $137,785.

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What if Alphabet (Google) keeps this up?

Project forward at Alphabet (Google)'s 24.9% historical growth rate. See 5-30 year scenarios.

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Growth of $1,000

Alphabet (Google) vs. S&P 500 vs. US Dollar, 2004 to present

Alphabet (Google)
S&P 500
US Dollar

Year-by-Year Returns

$1,000 invested in Alphabet (Google) starting January 2004

YearPriceValueAnnual
2004$2.54$1,000-
2005$4.86$1,911+91.1%
2006$10.74$4,226+121.2%
2007$12.45$4,899+15.9%
2008$14.01$5,512+12.5%
2009$8.40$3,307-40%
2010$13.15$5,177+56.5%
2011$14.90$5,865+13.3%
2012$14.40$5,667-3.4%
2013$18.76$7,382+30.3%
2014$29.31$11,536+56.3%
2015$26.66$10,492-9.1%
2016$37.76$14,860+41.6%
2017$40.67$16,008+7.7%
2018$58.63$23,074+44.1%
2019$55.83$21,974-4.8%
2020$71.05$27,964+27.3%
2021$90.62$35,665+27.5%
2022$134.19$52,816+48.1%
2023$98.03$38,582-26.9%
2024$138.95$54,688+41.7%
2025$203.08$79,928+46.2%
2026$337.76$132,935+66.3%

What this return means

$1,000 put into Alphabet (Google) (GOOGL) in 2004 turned into $147,831. That is a +14,683% total return, or roughly 148x your money, measured through 2026-06-01.

In compound terms that is roughly 24.9% a year, well above what a broad index has historically returned. A plain S&P 500 fund would have turned that $1,000 into about $10,045 instead, leaving Alphabet (Google) ahead by around $137,785. The index compounded at about 10.8% a year over that period.

The year-by-year record shows how bumpy the ride was. The best single year was 2006 at +121.2%, and the worst was 2009 at -40.0%. At its lowest point the position was down about 40% from an earlier high. These figures use split-adjusted closing prices and exclude dividends, taxes, trading fees, and inflation, so a real after-tax result would differ.

Treat this as history rather than advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

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For informational and educational purposes only. Not financial advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All calculations are based on split-adjusted closing prices from Yahoo Finance and do not account for dividends, taxes, or trading fees. See our methodology and full disclaimer.