Priceline stock flirts with historic $1,000 mark

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Priceline.com came close Friday to becoming the first stock in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index to cross $1,000.

Investors jumped onboard after the travel booking company reported better than expected second-quarter earnings. The stock rose to almost $995 before leveling off. The stock closed at $969.89.

The company’s stock hasn’t been this high since it had an adjusted closing price of $974.27 on April 30, 1999, a month after going public in the heady days of the dot-com boom. The stock dropped below $10 just two years later.

Online travel sites such as Priceline, Expedia and Orbitz have their roots in booking airline tickets, but have branched out because of a decline in commissions the airlines pay them. Priceline has been the most aggressive and successful in diversifying through several company-owned sites including Booking.com, Agoda and Rentalcars.com.