Study shows that just 46 firms accounted for half of the net wealth creation in US stock markets over the last 100 years

Study: over the last 100 years in US stock markets, just 46 firms accounted for over half of the net wealth creation This study summarizes investment outcomes for 29,754 common stocks listed in the public U.S. stock markets over the 100-year period from 1926 to 2025, reporting on both (buy- and-hold) percentage returns and shareholder wealth enhancement measured in dollars. While the cross-stock mean buy-and-hold return is over 30,000%, the median is -6.9%. Shareholders’ wealth was enhanced by $91 trillion over the century, but long-term investors in nearly 60% of stocks incurred wealth reductions. The degree to which wealth creation is concentrated in a few firms has increased sharply in recent years. Over the 1926 to 2016 period studied in Bessembinder (2018), 89 firms accounted for half of the $43 trillion in net wealth creation. After including outcomes for the most recent nine years, just 46 firms account for half of the $91 trillion in net wealth creation over the full century.