$2.65 Million Gets You a Seat on the Big Board

A New York Stock Exchange seat sold Monday for a record $2.65 million, up $150,000 from the previous sale.

Owning a seat on the world’s biggest stock exchange gives the holder the right to trade stocks on the Big Board and vote at NYSE meetings. The last sale was July 15, when a seat sold for $2.5 million. The previous record was $2.6 million, set March 1.

Monday’s seat sale came as the Dow Jones industrial average--the most widely followed benchmark for U.S. stocks--rose 199.15 points to 11,299.76, its first record since July 16.

It also comes as the Big Board, the world’s largest stock market, faces competition from electronic trading networks. The exchange’s board on Sept. 2 is expected to vote on converting to a for-profit corporation from a not-for-profit organization, laying the groundwork for a public stock offering.