Stocks / CRM
What If You Had Invested in Salesforce 10 Years Ago?
Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) with real monthly prices, dividends reinvested, through November 2026.
CRM $213.65 ▼ -3.94% last close, Nov 06, 2026
If you had invested $1,000 in CRM in November 2016, today it would be worth
$3,024
Same $1,000 in the S&P 500 (SPY): $3,907
If you had put $500 a month into CRM since November 2016, your $60,500 would be worth today
$77,189
Same plan in the S&P 500 (SPY): $129,289
More options in the What If calculator.
CRM live price chart
CRM returns by period
| Period | Total return | Per year | $1,000 became | SPY per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | -6.5% | -6.5% | $935 | +8.8% |
| 3 years | -13.6% | -4.7% | $864 | +18.7% |
| 5 years | -23.6% | -5.2% | $764 | +11.5% |
| 10 years | +202.4% | +11.7% | $3,024 | +14.6% |
| 20 years | +2133.1% | +16.8% | $22,331 | +10.6% |
| Since 2004 | +5319.6% | +19.5% | $54,196 | — |
CRM year by year
Best full year: 2009 (+130.5%). Worst: 2008 (-48.9%).
| Year | CRM | SPY | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (so far) | -18.8% | +8.7% | |
| 2025 | -20.2% | +17.7% | |
| 2024 | +27.8% | +24.9% | |
| 2023 | +98.5% | +26.2% | Cost cuts and much higher profit margins nearly doubled the stock. |
| 2022 | -47.8% | -18.2% | Rising rates hit software stocks, and slowing growth after the $27.7 billion Slack deal worried investors. Salesforce fell about half. |
| 2021 | +14.2% | +28.7% | |
| 2020 | +36.8% | +18.3% | |
| 2019 | +18.7% | +31.2% | |
| 2018 | +34.0% | -4.6% | |
| 2017 | +49.3% | +21.7% | |
| 2016 | -12.7% | +12.0% | |
| 2015 | +32.2% | +1.2% | |
| 2014 | +7.5% | +13.5% | |
| 2013 | +31.3% | +32.3% | |
| 2012 | +65.7% | +16.0% | |
| 2011 | -23.1% | +1.9% | |
| 2010 | +78.9% | +15.1% | |
| 2009 | +130.5% | +26.4% | Subscriptions kept growing through the recession, and the stock more than doubled. |
| 2008 | -48.9% | -36.8% | Investors feared companies would cut software spending, and Salesforce lost about half its value. |
| 2007 | +72.0% | +5.1% |
CRM: all at once or every month?
Take $12,000: all of it on day one, or $1,000 a month for a year. Across every starting month since 2004 (258 of them), the lump sum was ahead after 12 months in 185 (72%). Salesforce rewarded early money in most periods, but monthly investing won most starts in 2008 and 2011 and nearly every start in 2025, as the stock slid. The best case for monthly investing was a start in May 2008, when it finished the year 86% ahead.
Worst drop
CRM's worst fall in this history was -63.2%, a loss of more than half, from May 2008 to January 2009. It was back at the old high by December 2009, only 11 months after the bottom. $1,000 invested at that peak shrank to about $368 at the low.
Salesforce fell with the market in the 2008 crisis, losing more than 60% as investors feared companies would cut back on software. Its subscription revenue kept growing, and it was back at the old high by the end of 2009, far faster than the market.
Salesforce dividends
CRM paid $1.74 per share over the last 12 months, in April, June, September and December. At $213.65 that is 0.81%, a small yield; nearly all of the return has come from the price. Amounts are adjusted for splits.
| Year | Dividends / share | Change | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $1.66 | +4.0% | 0.63% |
| 2024 | $1.60 | — | 0.48% |
Yield = each year’s dividends divided by the price at the end of the year.
CRM dividend history: last 11 payments
| Ex-dividend date | Amount | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 17, 2026 | $0.4400 | +0.0% |
| Jun 11, 2026 | $0.4400 | +0.0% |
| Apr 09, 2026 | $0.4400 | +5.8% |
| Dec 18, 2025 | $0.4160 | +0.0% |
| Sep 17, 2025 | $0.4160 | +0.0% |
| Jun 18, 2025 | $0.4160 | +0.0% |
| Apr 10, 2025 | $0.4160 | +4.0% |
| Dec 18, 2024 | $0.4000 | +0.0% |
| Sep 18, 2024 | $0.4000 | +0.0% |
| Jul 09, 2024 | $0.4000 | +0.0% |
| Mar 13, 2024 | $0.4000 | — |
Stock splits
- April 2013: 4-for-1
About Salesforce
| Company | Salesforce, Inc. |
| Listed | June 2004 (NYSE) |
| Sector | Technology (software) |
| Dividend | Paid since 2024 |
Salesforce pioneered selling business software as a subscription over the internet instead of a program installed on company computers. Its customer-relationship software tracks sales leads, customer service and marketing, and it grew by buying companies such as Tableau, MuleSoft and Slack.
Marc Benioff, who founded the company in 1999, still runs it. For most of its life Salesforce put growth first. Pressure from activist investors in early 2023, Elliott Management among them, pushed it to cut about 10% of its staff, focus on profit margins, buy back more stock and, in 2024, start paying a dividend.
Since 2025 the stock has wrestled with a new question: whether AI agents will reduce the number of software seats companies pay for. Salesforce's answer is Agentforce, its own platform for AI agents.
The AI question for software
Salesforce charges largely per user, per month. If AI agents do work people used to do, companies may need fewer seats, and investors have marked down many software stocks on that fear. Salesforce is trying to turn the threat into a product by charging for AI agents through Agentforce. Whether that new revenue grows faster than seat revenue shrinks is the question behind the stock's recent slide.
Growth by acquisition
Salesforce has spent well over $50 billion on acquisitions, including Tableau ($15.7 billion, 2019), Slack ($27.7 billion, 2021) and Informatica (about $8 billion, agreed in 2025). Big deals have tended to worry shareholders when announced, because they weigh on profits for a while.
Questions about CRM
Did CRM beat the S&P 500?
Yes. Over the last 20 years it was ahead by 6.2 percentage points a year: +16.8% a year for CRM against +10.6% for SPY, dividends reinvested. It also fell harder at its worst (-63.2% against -50.8% for SPY over the same history).
When did Salesforce start paying a dividend?
Salesforce announced its first dividend in February 2024, at $0.40 a share per quarter, and has raised it since. The yield is small; the bigger way it returns cash is share buybacks.