NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. () is a United States public company that owns and operates the
NASDAQ stock market and eight European stock exchanges in Armenia plus the
Nordic and
Baltic regions under the
OMX banner. It is headquartered in New York City, and its
Chief Executive Officer is
Robert Greifeld.
History
Merger attempt with London Stock Exchange
<!-- Need data on Deutsche Börse bid -->In December 2005, the
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) rejected a £1.6 billion takeover offer from
Macquarie Bank. The LSE described the offer as "derisory." It then received a bid in March 2006 for £2.4 billion from NASDAQ, which was also rejected by the LSE. NASDAQ later pulled its bid, and less than two weeks later on April 11, 2006, struck a deal with LSE's largest shareholder,
Ameriprise Financial's
Threadneedle Asset Management unit, to acquire all of that firm's stake, consisting of 35.4 million shares, at £11.75 per share. NASDAQ also purchased 2.69 million additional shares, resulting in a total stake of 15%. While the seller of those shares was undisclosed, it occurred simultaneously with a sale by
Scottish Widows of 2.69 million shares. The move was seen as an effort to force LSE to negotiate either a partnership or eventual merger, as well as to block other suitors such as
NYSE Euronext, owner of the
New York Stock...
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