How Much Would You Have Today If You Invested $10,000 in Disney 10 Years Ago?

Core Insights - Disney's stock has shown modest gains over the past decade, with a price appreciation of 12.4% from $99.19 in December 2015 to $111.46 today, resulting in a total value of approximately $11,257 for a $10,000 investment [1] - Including dividends, the total return over the 10-year period is approximately 20.7%, equating to about 1.9% annually, which is significantly lower than the S&P 500's return of roughly 229% [4][5] Dividend Analysis - Disney paid semi-annual dividends from 2016 to early 2020, increasing from $1.42 per share in 2016 to $1.76 per share in 2019, its highest ever [2] - The dividend was suspended in May 2020 due to the pandemic and was not restored until January 2024, starting at 30 cents per share and increasing to 45 cents by July 2024, which is still about half of the pre-pandemic payout [3] Performance Comparison - A $10,000 investment in the S&P 500 index fund would have grown to approximately $32,900 over the same period, nearly three times the return of Disney [5] Factors Behind Underperformance - Disney's decade included significant acquisitions, such as 21st Century Fox for $71 billion, and a major business transformation towards streaming, which required substantial content spending that impacted profits [6] - The launch of Disney+ initially attracted subscribers but led to financial losses for years before achieving profitability in Q3 2024, while traditional cable networks like ESPN faced declining viewership and revenue [7]