Some of the largest, most successful companies of today started life as speculative bets -- particularly those in the technology industry. Most of them lost money hand over fist in their early days, so investing in them took nerves of steel and plenty of patience. The same goes for less traditional assets like cryptocurrencies.
But in some cases, the long-term payoff made the journey more than worthwhile. I'm going to share two stocks and one cryptocurrency token that would've turned investors into millionaires from a well-timed outlay of just $10,000.
1. Amazon
As the world's largest e-commerce company, Amazon (AMZN 1.30%) needs little introduction. Estimates suggest there are more than 350 million products available on Amazon.com through a combination of its own inventory and its third-party seller ecosystem. And those goods fly out the door, with 1.6 million packages shipped every day.
Amazon's e-commerce journey began in 1995 with its online bookstore, but the company has since evolved to become so much more than just an online marketplace. It's home to the world's leading cloud services platform, Amazon Web Services, which generates more revenue and offers more solutions than any of its competitors.
The company also has a booming advertising business, which could be set for explosive growth in the future thanks to a growing portfolio of streaming and media assets. Amazon Prime is investing big in content, nabbing the rights to live sports like the NFL's Thursday Night Football.
Amazon is currently valued at $1 trillion, and it generated $514 billion in revenue last year, which was more than any other tech giant.
The company listed publicly in 1997 at $18 per share. After four stock splits, Amazon's stock split-adjusted IPO price is $0.075 per share, meaning an investor who deployed $10,000 would own 133,200 shares today. And since Amazon stock currency trades at $102.06, that investment would be worth $13.6 million now.
But I personally think there's still room for a fivefold return on Amazon stock over the next 10 years.
2. Netflix
Netflix (NFLX 4.17%) is the pioneer of the streaming industry, and it's widely credited for putting movie rental stores like Blockbuster out of business. The company was founded in 1997, and it began by using the internet to mail physical DVDs to customers, which added a new level of convenience to the rental experience. But when it introduced streaming in 2007, the entertainment world changed forever.
Netflix is now the largest player among at least 80 others in the industry. It has amassed 231 million subscribers, and it's the only major stand-alone streaming provider generating a profit, which gives the company an edge in this difficult economic environment because competitors like Disney are slashing content costs. Netflix generated $4.5 billion in net income during 2022 alone.
The company thinks there's still plenty of room for growth, as it only occupies 10% of TV screen time in mature markets like the U.S. and the United Kingdom, and under 5% in some European and South American countries.
Netflix listed publicly in 2002 at $15 per share. A $10,000 investment would've bought 666 shares back then, but after two stock splits, that holding would have expanded to 9,324 shares with a cost basis of $1.07 per share today.
Since Netflix stock currently trades at $339.33, that initial $10,000 investment would now be worth $3.1 million.
3. Shiba Inu
While I happen to think Amazon and Netflix are still worth buying despite their substantial increases in value to date, I don't feel the same way about cryptocurrency token Shiba Inu (SHIB 1.62%). Nonetheless, there's no denying the returns it has delivered for investors, which can only be described as historic.
Shiba Inu rose to prominence during the speculative frenzy of 2021, when many financial assets experienced price distortions amid waves of U.S. government stimulus and ultra-low interest rates designed to fight off the economic effects of the pandemic. At the beginning of 2021, it traded at a price of $0.000000000077, and it closed the year a whopping 43,800,000% higher at $0.00003374.
The token has since collapsed by 67% from that price to $0.00001114. It has failed to attract any meaningful adoption from consumers or businesses, which makes sustaining value extremely difficult. Just 741 merchants around the world accept Shiba Inu as payment for goods and services, and most of them are small and obscure.
The community has continued to develop new use cases for Shiba Inu, including an upcoming metaverse, but most of those initiatives are likely to serve as novelties at best.
It would have taken true grit to invest $10,000 into such a speculative asset -- it was a moonshot in every sense of the word. But had you done so on Jan. 1, 2021, and continued to hold until today, you'd be sitting on an absolute fortune worth $1.4 billion.
