Priceline sold its stock at $16 a share and watched it close its first day at $69. The idea behind it was simple. A traveler named a price for a plane ticket, and an airline with empty seats could take the offer or leave it. The Connecticut company came from Jay Walker's invention lab. It went public in March 1999, at the height of the dot-com rush, as one of the hottest stocks of the year.

An Invention Lab's Big Idea

Jay Walker founded Priceline in 1997. He ran Walker Digital, a lab that patented new ways of doing business online. Priceline flipped the usual deal. The buyer set the price, and the seller decided. Airlines had seats that flew empty every day, and they did not want to cut fares in public. A hidden bid let them fill those seats quietly. Priceline took the plan to hotels, cars, and mortgages next.

From $69 to Booking.com

Priceline priced its offering at $16 a share on March 29, 1999. The stock closed its first day at $69 on Nasdaq under PCLN. When the bubble burst, the shares lost most of their value. The company survived and in 2005 bought Booking.com, a small Dutch hotel site. Booking.com grew into the main business. In 2018 the company renamed itself Booking Holdings, and it trades on Nasdaq as BKNG.

Cover: The Auction House: The Auctioneer, Charles Maurand. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for an auctioneer (name your own price).