US $475.40 as of 5/8/09
If in 1976 you could buy 5000 shares of what is now Microsoft stock, it would be worth the same as 5000 shares of Microsoft that was purchased today - no matter when you bought it, it would be 5000 x today's stock price of Microsoft (you would probably pay more today). You probably want to know how rich you would be today if you had purchased 5000 shares of Microsoft stock in 1976. That would take some research because the shares of Microsoft stock available in 1976 are probably not the same as what is available today (because of splits and other events that could have occurred).
Microsoft
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Suppose you want to start a lemonade stand. It will cost $100 to get all of the materials together and set up the business. You have $80. Your best friend has $20 and is willing to invest in the company. You decide to split the company 80/20, based on the money you each put in. This means you own 80% of the company and your friend owns 20%. If you think of this in terms of shares, you own 80 shares worth $1 apiece and your friend owns 20 shares at $1 apiece (or you own 4 shares at $20 apiece or 40 shares at $2 apiece or however many shares you decide the company will have). At the end of every month, you get 80% of the profits and your friend gets 20%. If you both decide your friend wants to own more of the company, you can sell some of your shares so that you each own 50% of the company.
What is a 150 shares of Norman Wiatt stock worth
Preference shares (or preferred shares) act are paid dividends at a fixed rate. They are more like a bond, they will go up in value when interest rates go down and will go down in value when interst rates go up. Most important they do not participate in the growth and success of the company. For example, if you put $1,000 in Microsoft preference shares when it went public 20 years ago it was still be worth $1,000 in contrast, if you put $1,000 in Microsoft ordinary (common) shares they would be worth millions.
Microsoft is worth about $230 billion, but since it's publicly traded, you can buy shares in it for about $30 each.
If in 1976 you could buy 5000 shares of what is now Microsoft stock, it would be worth the same as 5000 shares of Microsoft that was purchased today - no matter when you bought it, it would be 5000 x today's stock price of Microsoft (you would probably pay more today). You probably want to know how rich you would be today if you had purchased 5000 shares of Microsoft stock in 1976. That would take some research because the shares of Microsoft stock available in 1976 are probably not the same as what is available today (because of splits and other events that could have occurred).
Around $20
Microsoft
In 1997 Microsoft purchased $150 million of non-voting Apple shares.
maybe
Bank of America Corporation owns 22.82M shares worth $839.09MSchroder Investment Management owns 1.73M shares worth $63.71MFore Research & Management owns 1.20M shares worth $44.12MArcher Capital Management owns 1.09M shares worth $40.33MFMR owns 569172 shares worth $17.18MEVERETT HARRIS & CO /CA/ owns 557000 shares worth $20.48MSummit Global Management owns 412750 shares worth $15.18MLabranche & Co owns 397900 shares worth $14.64MPax World Management owns 319000 shares worth $11.74MFirst Eagle Investment Management owns 310000 shares worth $11.40MSprott Asset Management owns 262000 shares worth $9.63M
The percentage change of Microsoft changed a lot in 1987, but assuming you bought it at $ .35, ($43,750 worth of shares if you bought 125,000.) After 12 years, in 1999, you sold it at $45 dollars per share, your original $43,750 would be worth $5,625,000. Which would be a $5,582,250 dollar increase.
55,67%
Microsoft is a public company as people can buy there shares.
The Microsoft lookout is currently worth about $200 billion, each stock of Microsoft is worth $150,000.