Tesla Was Incorporated 21 Years Ago: If You Invested $1000 In Elon Musk's EV Giant When It Went Public, Here's How Much You'd Have

EV giant Tesla Inc TSLA was incorporated 21 years ago on Jul. 1, 2003. Seven years after incorporation, the company had its initial public offering at a price to the public of $17 per share.

Tesla is now among the top 10 largest public companies in the U.S. in terms of market capitalization, in the same league as Microsoft and Alphabet.

Named After Nikola Tesla

Named after inventor Nikola Tesla, the company was founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Tesla’s current CEO Elon Musk was an early investor and board member until he took over as CEO of the company after the exit of the two co-founders in 2008.

The company’s first EV was the limited edition Tesla Roadster, released in 2008. Though the company verged on bankruptcy during the global financial crisis, it avoided it. Tesla turned a full-year net profit attributable to stockholders for the first time in 2020, 17 years after incorporation. The company has been increasing its profits since.

The company has also scaled its lineup since then, adding the Model S luxury sedan, the Model X SUV, the Model 3 sedan, and the Model Y SUV. The stainless steel Cybertruck, which the company started delivering in November, is the latest addition to its lineup.

Tesla also has businesses besides EVs, including energy storage products and robotics.

Tesla’s Stock Market Journey

On its first day of trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Jun. 29, 2010, Tesla shares closed at a split-adjusted price of $1.59. Tesla has had two stock splits in its history, the first in Aug. 2020 and then again in Aug. 2022, meaning one share of Tesla in 2010 would be 15 shares by now.

Tesla shares closed at $219.8 on Friday, implying that its value multiplied by nearly 138 times since listing.

If an investor invested $1,000 in Tesla on its first day of trading on the exchange at a split-adjusted closing price of $1.59, they would have nearly 629 Tesla shares, worth about $138,254, as of Friday’s close.

Lackluster Performance In 2024

Despite stellar performance since it went public, Tesla’s stock has had a poor showing since the start of 2024.

The stock is down 11.5% year-to-date, as a result of shrinking profit margins and lower year-on-year vehicle sales in the first two quarters of 2024.

Tesla touched its highest value of over $400 per share in November 2021. The stock hasn’t touched those highs since. The stock hasn’t even crossed the $300 level since the second half of 2022.

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• Tesla’s Energy And Storage Segment Doubles Revenue In Q2 To Make Up For Decline In Car Sales

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