Alphabet split ends era of jumbo prices for megacaps: Report

The days when investors had to shell out thousands of dollars to buy a single share of some of the world’s biggest technology firms are gone.

Alphabet closes the door on that era Monday when its shares begin trading in the $100 range after completing a 20-for-1 split, following the blueprint laid out by Amazon.com. In premarket trading, the stock rose 1.6 per cent to $113.61.

The companies billed the moves as a way to make their stocks more accessible for retail investors and that has been achieved. But so far the lower price tags have done little to lift stocks amid broader concerns about Federal Reserve interest rate hikes and cooling economic growth.