Nasdaq Gives Up Bid to Control London Exchange

Will sell 31% stake
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 21, 2007 12:08 AM CDT
Nasdaq Gives Up Bid to Control London Exchange
The Nasdaq logo is seen at the Nasdaq stock market, in this Feb. 21, 2007 file photo in New York. Nasdaq Stock Market Inc., which lost its battle to cross the Atlantic with a failed bid for the London Stock Exchange, agreed Friday, May 25, 2007 to buy Nordic stock exchange operator OMX AB for $3.67...   (Associated Press)

Nasdaq is giving up its bid to buy control of the London Stock Exchange and will sell its $1.58 billion stake in the blue-chip listing venue, reports the Wall Street Journal. Owning almost a third of the shares in the London exchange gave Nasdaq little control over operations, and efforts to buy a bigger stake were rebuffed by London management and shareholders.

"We fought the good fight," Nasdaq's chief executive said in a conference call with investors. Since Nasdaq began making its move 17 months ago, the London Stock Exchange has acquired the Milan exchange. Nasdaq is now moving on to smaller prey, the Nordic exchange OMX. (More NASDAQ stories.)

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