On Mar. 13, 1986, Microsoft Corporation, founded by Bill Gates Jr. and the late Paul Allen in 1975, completed an Initial Public Offering (IPO) at a price of $21 per share. Since that date, Microsoft’s stock has split nine times, and one original share equals 288 shares today.

All nine splits were 2-for-1 or 3-for-2, occurring between 1987 and 2003. A single share at the $21 IPO price, without dividends, would be worth over $140,000 as of mid-2025.

Microsoft and the wealth the company has created has had a significant impact on the life science industry in Seattle and the state of Washington, including: the Allen Institute for Brain Science, Allen Institute for Cell Science, Corixa, Darwin Molecular, ICOS, PATH, GAVI, Rosetta Inpharmatics, and the Gates Foundation, just to name a few.