PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA

By JOSEPH PISANI
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) – Amazon, the e-commerce giant that has changed how much of the world shops for books, toilet paper and TVs, hit a new milestone. Its stock topped $1,000 for the first time.

That price puts Amazon’s market value at $478 billion, double that of rival Wal-Mart and more than 15 times the size of Target. And its four-digit stock price places it in rare company: Only four other U.S.-listed companies have shares that trade above $1,000.

Amazon.com Inc. has come a long way since its start in 1995, when it mostly sold books. The Seattle company now sells just about anything, from groceries to small appliances, and has been blamed for taking business away from department stores, supermarkets and clothing retailers.