Amazon Joins The $1,000 Club

Amazon, the internet goliath that revolutionized the way much of the world buys books, toilet paper and TVs, hit a new milestone Tuesday. Its stock surpassed the $1,000 mark for the first time.

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That price put Amazon’s market value at about $478 billion, double that of the world’s biggest traditional retailer, Wal-Mart, and more than 15 times the size of Target. A $1,000 investment on Amazon’s first day of trading in 1997 would be worth more than $500,000 today.

Not only has Amazon changed the retail landscape since it became a public company 20 years ago, it’s now part of a small cadre of highflying stocks belonging to companies that have defied Wall Street and shunned stock splits.