# I'm a stockholder!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-stockholder/625996>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [June 22, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-stockholder/625996 "2012-06-22T22:09:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-stockholder/625996/1 "2012-06-22T22:09:03Z")

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I got granted shares in an internet company way back in 2002, before the company went public. It’s something I’d completely forgotten about.

Today, I happened to be poking around old email on an account I no longer use, and ran across the email granting me the stock. A whopping six shares. So I looked up the company, and lo and behold, they’re public!

Good news: the shares are trading at around $23 today.  
Bad news: in April of last year, the shares were trading at $101.

So much for my get-rich-by-acquiring-stock-then-forgetting-about-it scheme. The timing was a little off.

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-stockholder/625996/2 "2012-06-22T22:48:35Z")

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I had some stock turn up from a previous employer. 48 shares. The company used to be owned by a UK company (it’s headquartered in Dublin now), and I got some UK stock too. I don’t know how it got from there to here, but I have a whopping almost-51 shares of Home Retail Group, which I guess is the UK equivalent to Home Depot or something. My former employer’s stock does pretty well, but every time I look at the UK stock it’s down. Dammit, Brits! Go build a new shed! And then buy tools to keep in it!

So anwyay… Yeah. A bit over $800 in stock. I don’t think I’m going to be buying any islands in the near future.

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**Author:** ![jharvey963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/54ee81/32.png) [@jharvey963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jharvey963)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-stockholder/625996/3 "2012-06-27T23:22:28Z")

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> [@Asimovian](#):
>
> I got granted shares in an internet company way back in 2002, before the company went public. It’s something I’d completely forgotten about.
> 
> Today, I happened to be poking around old email on an account I no longer use, and ran across the email granting me the stock. A whopping six shares. So I looked up the company, and lo and behold, they’re public!
> 
> Good news: the shares are trading at around $23 today.  
> Bad news: in April of last year, the shares were trading at $101.
> 
> So much for my get-rich-by-acquiring-stock-then-forgetting-about-it scheme. The timing was a little off.

Something else to check, just to be sure: has the company had any stock splits since you were awarded the stock? If so, you will (probably) have more than 6 shares. For example, if they had a 2 - 1 split in 2006 and another 2 - 1 split in 2009, you now actually have 24 shares.

Also, check if they had a “reverse split” after you were awarded the stock but before they went public. Reverse splits are common when a company is preparing to go public. In a 2 - 1 reverse split, your 6 shares would be reduced to 3 shares…

J