What does Amazon's 20-for-1 stock split mean?

Today, investors learned this big news via a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In it, Amazon shared that its board of directors approved a 20-for-1 stock split. What does this actually mean for AMZN stock? Essentially, after the stock split, any investor who held one share of AMZN would then have 20 shares.

What does a 20-1 stock split mean?

A 20-1 stock split means that each share of Amazon today will turn into 20 shares, 1 existing one and 19 additional ones, following the stock split. Someone holding 10 shares today would own 200 shares in Amazon following the stock split. Amazon also announced a $10 billion share repurchase program during the same news announcement.

What would happen if AMZN shares were split?

Essentially, after the stock split, any investor who held one share of AMZN would then have 20 shares. Using today’s closing price, that would also mean that one share would go from $2,785.58 to $139.28. Stock splits are not entirely uncommon. In fact, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG, NASDAQ: GOOGL) announced one of its own in February 2022.

When did Amazon split its stock?

This is Amazon’s fourth stock split since its IPO in 1997, and its first since 1999, when the company was a fraction of its current size. It also split on a 2-for-1 basis on June 2, 1998; a 3-for-1 basis on Jan. 5, 1999; and a 2-for-1 basis on Sept. 2, 1999. Amazon shares are up more than 4,300% since the last split was announced.