TechInvestment.com was founded in 2010 by Lloyd Bunting with investments in Apple and Google. Markets had been shaken by the 2000 Dot.com crash and the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis. In the wake of these confidence-busting periods it seemed like the right time to move out of ASX-listed stocks and focus on US technology stocks. So we started with AUD 100,000 in 2010 and that portfolio grew to AUD 30 million by mid Dec 2024. Since then the portfolio has recovered to AUD 26 million, down 13% from the AUD 30 million peak. We're working on getting back above AUD 30 million again this financial year.
This chart (above) shows Apple's stock price since 2000 with a focus on the technology turning point around 2010, related to the release of the iPhone4 on 24 Jun 2010, with continued growth supported by innovation in subsequent releases of iPhones, iPads, iWatches, computers and other devices to the present day. Since our first investment (we've never sold any Apple shares) our investment has risen 2,138%.
Our second investment was Google. We could only afford a few shares because Google's share price was around USD520. Google had the advantage over Yahoo with its automated indexing and ranking strategy, We've made 1,200% on that investment.
Our biggest gain was Facebook: up 5,581%. We bought at the lowest post-IPO price and have held it ever since. Around the time of the IPO we ignored the challenges to ownership of Facebook by Paul Ceglia and Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra.