SortStack #1529 — 2030-08-16

By price · Order from cheapest to most expensive.

1. An Oscar statuette, if a winner ever sells it back to the Academy $1.00

   Since 1951, winners must offer their Oscar back to the Academy for exactly one dollar before selling it elsewhere — a rule that keeps statuettes off the open market.

2. A single Powerball lottery ticket $2.00

   The odds of hitting the jackpot are about 1 in 292 million — you are far likelier to be struck by lightning multiple times in your life.

3. A new hardcover bestseller $30

   Hardcovers exist partly as price discrimination: publishers sell to eager fans at a premium first, then release the cheaper paperback a year later.

4. A new Porsche 911 Carrera $120K

   The 911's silhouette has barely changed since 1963 — Porsche claims over 70% of all 911s ever built are still on the road.

5. The record bluefin tuna sold at Tokyo's New Year fish auction $3.1M

   The 278 kg fish was bought in 2019 by a sushi chain owner known as the 'Tuna King' — the first auction of the year is partly a publicity ritual.

6. Pixar, when Disney bought it $7.4B

   The 2006 deal made Steve Jobs Disney's largest individual shareholder — he had bought Pixar from George Lucas two decades earlier for about $10 million.

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