Google's valuation has become the stuff of legend already. You look at the barely four-year-old stock chart and marvel at the consistent price gains, comparable to a young Apple or maybe Starbucks in its heyday. If you got into this stock at the IPO, you're sitting on a 632 percent return today, and it's better than a six-bagger for the lucky few who caught the bandwagon at the very lowest point in early September 2004.
The stock has never split, which is why the price for a single share has crossed the $700 mark. By comparison, Yahoo! had already split its shares four times at the age of four, making 12 lower-priced shares out of each high-flying original certificate. If the Big Y had stayed away from splits, those shares would cost $663 each today, adjusting for another two-for-one split in 2004. Apple has only split 8-for-1 in total, but that's enough to put a never-cut stock at a $1,492 price point today.
Read more: arstechnica.com
