History of Stock Splits
Stock splits have been a feature of public markets for nearly 400 years. They peaked in popularity in the U.S. during the 1990s, declined through the 2000s and 2010s, and made a striking comeback starting in 2020 with Apple, Tesla, and NVIDIA.
The 1600s: the first stock split
The Dutch East India Company — the world's first publicly traded company — is credited with the earliest known stock split in the 17th century. It laid the groundwork for how modern corporations would manage share structure.
The 20th century: mainstream in America
As U.S. equity markets matured, stock splits became a standard tool for large companies. The 1980s and 1990s were peak split years — driven by strong bull markets and a retail investor base that gravitated toward lower nominal share prices.
The 2000s: splits fade
After the dot-com crash, stock splits declined dramatically. Fewer companies reached split-worthy prices, and management teams became more comfortable letting share prices drift higher. Berkshire Hathaway's refusal to split its Class A shares — which now trade at over $600,000 — became a widely-cited counter-cultural stance.
The 2020s: the modern split revival
A new wave of splits began in 2020, led by mega-cap technology companies:
Modern-era mega-splits
Apple's split history
Apple has split its stock five times: 2-for-1 in 1987, 2-for-1 in 2000, 2-for-1 in 2005, 7-for-1 in 2014, and 4-for-1 in 2020. A single pre-1987 share owned continuously would be 224 shares today — illustrating how splits compound over long time horizons.
What the modern revival tells us
Even in an era of fractional shares — where any investor can buy $10 of a $1,000 stock — splits are still happening. The reasons are less about accessibility and more about attention, employee equity, and index mechanics.
Splits are a mirror on market structure. When they proliferate, it usually means bull-market conditions and high nominal share prices. When they disappear, prices — and enthusiasm — have come down.