Google Shares Top $500 For First Time

AP Business Writer

Google Inc.'s stock price surpassed $500 for the first time Tuesday, marking another milestone in a rapid rise that has catapulted the Internet search leader into the corporate elite.

Continuing a recent surge driven by Wall Street's high expectations for the company, Google's shares rose $11.38, or 2.3 percent, to $506.43 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

That left Google with a market value of about $155 billion just eight years after former Stanford University graduate students Larry Page and Sergey Brin started the business in a Silicon Valley garage.