I am looking for the following information. If I invested 10,000
dollars in microsoft in 1985, how much would it be worth now (or at
its peak value). Specificly I am looking for an example of metoric
growth of value, so the exact start date and end date doesn't matter,
but I need to show that this amount of money, at such and such time
would be worth so much now.
1 caveat. I am giving a lecture tommorow evening, and need the answer
by Wednesday 4:00 PM latest.

Hello.

If you had invested $10,000 in Microsoft stock at the offering price
of $21 per share on March 13, 1986 (the first day the stock was
traded), you would have initially owned 476 shares.

Because of 9 stock splits, each original Microsoft share has split
into 288 current shares.

Thus, your initial 476 shares would have split into 137,088.  

At today's price of $25.68, your $10,000 investment would now be worth
just over $3.5 million.

At the peak price of $59.04 (December 27, 1999), the shares would have
been worth just over $8 million.


Source:
Microsoft.com

"What was the offering price at Microsoft's initial public offering (IPO)?
The offering price was $21.00 per share at the IPO on March 13, 1986."
http://www.microsoft.com/msft/FAQ/faqstock.mspx#openingPrice

"How many times have you split the stock?
This is the ninth time the company has split the stock since Microsoft
went public back in March 1986. One original share will equal 288
shares after this split is effective."
http://www.microsoft.com/msft/FAQ/faqstocksplit.mspx#5

"Value of Microsoft shares today based on dollar amount invested in
the initial public offering" (Excel Spreadsheet)
http://www.microsoft.com/msft/download/IPOmoneycalc.xls

Stock price source:
Yahoo Finance: Historical Prices - Microsoft
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=MSFT

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search strategy:
microsoft.com, investor relations, stock info 

I hope this helps.  Good luck with your lecture!

Great! Exactly the information I was looking for. 
Thanks, 

Barry