Tech Giants Capture Nearly All 100-Year Stock Gains as 96% Trail 3.3% T-Bills
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 26
Tech Giants Capture Nearly All 100-Year Stock Gains as 96% Trail 3.3% T-Bills
2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 26
Summary
Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft led an updated 1926-2025 study showing a tiny group of companies generated nearly all long-term stock-market wealth for investors.
More than 96% of listed stocks failed to beat the 3.3% average return of one-month Treasury bills, underscoring how concentrated wealth creation has become.
Hendrik Bessembinder of Arizona State said that concentration has accelerated over the past nine years as extraordinarily large firms posted outsized gains.
Tesla, absent from the top wealth-creators list nine years ago, now ranks ninth all-time, while SpaceX briefly entered the top 30 after its IPO before slipping out.