15 April 1955: Ray Kroc opens his first McDonald's
On April 15, 1955 Ray Kroc, a 52-year-old milkshake-machine salesman, opened his first McDonald's franchise in Des Plaines, Illinois. He had licensed the concept from the McDonald brothers and later bought them out. Kroc's real insight, sharpened by his finance chief, was that the company should own the land under its restaurants. McDonald's became as much a real estate business as a burger business.
The lesson: Look past what a company sells to where its money is really made.
What it meant for investors
$1,000 in McDonald's at the start of 1990 → $37,500 today, vs $19,429 in the S&P 500.
We start the clock at the start of 1990, the first year in our price data after the event. That is 37.5 times the money, and $18,071 more than a plain index fund made over the same years.
What McDonald's teaches: A mature company can create significant value by fixing its existing operations rather than chasing expansion; same-store improvement beats sheer growth.
| Bought in | Price then | Worth today | S&P 500 would be |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | $8.00 | $37,500 | $19,429 |
| 1995 | $14.00 | $21,429 | $14,783 |
| 2000 | $40.00 | $7,500 | $4,626 |
green = beat the S&P 500 · red = lost money
What if you bought McDonald's? Every starting year and the full story →
More McDonald's history
Could you have called it at the time? The wheel picks the year, you pick the position, ten seconds a pick.
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