SortStack #703 — 2028-05-12

By price · Order from cheapest to most expensive.

1. Costco's famous hot dog and soda combo $1.50

   The price has been frozen since 1985. Co-founder Jim Sinegal reportedly told his CEO: 'If you raise the price of the hot dog, I will kill you.'

2. Manhattan Island, as the Dutch paid for it (in goods, at the famous valuation) $24

   The Dutch paid 60 guilders in trade goods in 1626 — a sum 19th-century historians famously converted to about $24. Manhattan real estate is now worth well over a trillion.

3. A Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup $63K

   The F-150 has been America's best-selling vehicle for over four decades — Ford sells one roughly every minute of every day.

4. A banana duct-taped to a wall, the artwork 'Comedian' $6.2M

   The 2024 buyer, a crypto entrepreneur, ate the banana at a press conference. The artwork is really a certificate — owners get instructions for replacing the fruit.

5. Mojang, the maker of Minecraft, when Microsoft bought it $2.5B

   Creator Markus 'Notch' Persson sold partly due to burnout, tweeting that he didn't want the responsibility — Minecraft went on to become the best-selling game ever.

6. The Sochi Winter Olympics, the most expensive Games ever held $51B

   The 2014 Winter Games cost more than every previous Winter Olympics combined — a subtropical beach resort had to be re-engineered for snow sports.

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