Reaching Four Digits

A long time ago, in the dot-com days, Priceline was one of the hottest stocks on the market. But when the bubble burst, Priceline lost 97 percent of its value in about a year and a half. After a decade or so of retrenching, it's back setting records: Priceline's share price has now  reached four digits, closing yesterday at $1000.62.

Priceline is the first stock on the S&P 500 Index to trade above $1,000, but there are other stocks at that level, including:

• Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett's company, at $175,825
• Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach, at $5,290
• Seaboard Corp., which is oddly enough a Kansas-based meat processor, at $2,805

Next to crash the party: Google, which is trading at $898.