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Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Class A (BRK-A) shares are the most expensive stock in the world and recently broke the $500,000 level for the first time.

The stock gained another 0.31% in Tuesday's session — that's $1,620.91 — to close at $525,854.

What Happened

On March 16, Warren Buffett's Berkshire quietly hit a global milestone, with shares closing at $504,400. The recent surge ranks Berkshire Hathaway as the seventh-most valuable company in the world, over NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) and Meta Platforms Inc (FB).

Berkshire announced an agreement to acquire Alleghany Corp (Y) for $11.6 billion on Monday, making it the company's largest acquisition since 2016, when it purchased Precision Castparts.

Berkshire Class A shares have always been on a tear, delivering shareholders annual returns averaging 20%, almost doubling the annual returns of the S&P 500.

One milestone investors would recognize is when Berkshire shares touched $100,000 for the first time on Oct. 5, 2006.

Investing In Berkshire Hathaway

2006 was a busy year for Berkshire: the company completed five acquisitions, while outperforming the S&P 500 by 10.37%.

A $1,000 investment in BRK-A on Oct. 5, 2006 could have purchased 0.0102 shares based on the opening price of $97,400.

That investment would be worth $5,363 today.