paper profit

noun

: a profit that can be realized only by selling something (such as a security) that has appreciated in market value

Examples of paper profit in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
By Matthew Schifrin, Forbes Staff Michael Price and Michael Steinhardt have a huge paper profit in Sunbeam Corp.— but haven’t been able to cash out. Matt Schifrin, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2025 The stock and warrant offering was priced at $3.47 per share, meaning the investors have already made a handsome paper profit. Ben Berkowitz, Axios, 14 Feb. 2025 So while the millions of shares would deliver Trump some $1 billion in additional stock, turning that paper profit into real cash is going to take some time. Bailey Lipschultz, Fortune, 13 Apr. 2024 But even with that step back in price, Musk is looking at an on-paper profit of roughly $1.1 billion on his $2.6 billion investment. Chris Isidore, CNN, 6 Apr. 2022 Stock prices and business valuations go down as well as up — $1 in on-paper profit today could be $5 in real-world losses tomorrow. Nr Editors, National Review, 31 Mar. 2022 Tesla has already made around $1 billion in paper profit on its $1.5 billion bitcoin investment, estimates Wedbush Securities’ Daniel Ives. David Meyer, Fortune, 22 Feb. 2021 The reasons for these paper profits are disconcerting. Jeff Sommer, New York Times, 28 Feb. 2020 In other words, SoftBank is heavily reliant on paper profits. Tim Culpan | Bloomberg, Washington Post, 6 Nov. 2019

Word History

First Known Use

1893, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of paper profit was in 1893

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Cite this Entry

“Paper profit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paper%20profit. Accessed 1 Mar. 2025.

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