The Legendary, Wildly Profitable QQQ Fund Makes No Money for Its Owner
An historical artifact prevents Invesco from profiting from its flagship ETF. The company’s Q-themed offshoots are finally solving that problem.
Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1, better known by its ticker QQQ, is one of the most storied funds in the investing universe. It’s also wildly profitable—just not for its owner, Invesco Ltd.
Since its inauspicious introduction in March 1999, a year before the dot-com bubble burst, the exchange-traded fund has become almost synonymous with tech investing. Made up of the 100 or so biggest US companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange, it’s enjoyed meteoric gains—about 430% on a total return basis over the past decade, nearly double the S&P 500—thanks to a portfolio heavy with tech juggernauts such as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon.com and more.