Bidding Battle for the NYSE

The bidding wars continue over Wall Street’s most iconic trading floor. The New York Stock Exchange, the backbone of America’s financial market, is up for sale. On Sunday, the NYSE Euronext directors unanimously rejected the NASDAQ and Intercontinental Exchange’s bid for the NYSE from the German bank Deutsche Boerse.

The joint offer, proposed April 1, represented a 19% premium over the price presented by Deutsche Boerse. Despite a higher offer, the NYSE board cited the recent bid as an unacceptable execution risk.

NYSE Euronext CEO, Duncan Niederauer, joined Varney & Co. this morning to discuss the latest.

“We’ve transformed and repositioned the company. We had a long-term strategy,” said Niederauer. “In my mind, the board had a fairly easy decision yesterday.”

Concern surrounding the NASDAQ’s bid is escalating as analysts continue to question if it would have been a difficult deal to complete. But the question that has remained on the forefront of many Americans' minds is how many jobs will be cut due to the potential merger.

“There’s no question the NYSE and Deutsche Boerse deal keeps more jobs,” said Niederauer. “Not only on the floor but in New York. You can’t deliver the synergies that the other proposal suggests without a substantial amount of job loss.”

However, the deal is not final. The NASDAQ and ICE have indicated they are not walking away and have been rumored to be rallying support for their bid from NYSE shareholders. But according to Niederauer, the joint bid is off the table.

“As far as we’re concerned the board has reaffirmed the merger,” said Niederauer. “We’re going full steam ahead to building this global integrated company. We’ve been doing all the regulatory filings. We’re meeting with shareholders this week.”