Nothing exemplifies the perseverance of Thain, CEO of NYSE Group, than his triumph in reviving the oldest and largest fledgling behemoth of the US in a short span of time and his further endeavors to gear it up to create the worlds first transatlantic stock exchange. His vision to transform NYSE into a truly global marketplace could soon become a reality after the completion of the merger between NYSE and Euronext. On June 2, 2006, NYSE inked a formal pact to acquire pan-European stock exchange Euronext for around $10 bn. The combined market capitalization of the merged entity accounts for around $20 bn, which is far more than that of the next four biggest stock exchanges combined figure. The proposed transatlantic merger reinforces the growing interest among stock exchanges in the global consolidation drive.
NYSE's
history dates back to 1792, when an agreement to trade securities was signed by
24 brokers under a tree in Manhattan. Since then, it has surpassed many milestones
to set new records to become the world's oldest and largest stock exchange by
dollar volume. It had been regarded as America's most prestigious stock exchange
in which some of the world's largest corporations like General Motors and Wal-Mart
are listed.
Nevertheless,
its reputation dwindled during 2003 with the controversial ouster of the then-Chairman
and CEO Richard A Grasso, due to his pay fiasco. Its name was further tarnished
with the series of scandals involving specialist firms which were alleged to have
defrauded the traders. These specialist firms usually maintain order and bring
together buyers and sellers and finalize the deal by the open outcry auction system,
which NYSE had been following for more than 200 years. However, with the involvement
of specialists in scandals, this human element, which was the uniqueness of NYSE,
turned out to be its shortcoming.
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