The 213-year-old New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has vaulted into the top ranks of electronic stock trading, announcing a merger with all-electronic rival Archipelago Holdings Inc in a stunning move that will also transform the NYSE into a for-profit, publicly traded enterprise.
Competitiveness
The NYSE, famous around the world for its busy trading floor, says it has no intention of becoming an entirely computer-based exchange. Instead, by offering a fast electronic option alongside the slower but less volatile floor-based operation, the NYSE hopes to effectively compete with its chief US rival, the NASDAQ Stock Market Inc, and tackle increasing global competition.
"This is an essential step to maintaining our global competitiveness and leadership," NYSE chief executive John Thain said on Wednesday. "I believe that the combination of Archipelago and the New York Stock Exchange will be the leading securities market in the United States and in the world."
The new entity, a holding company to be called NYSE Group Inc, will spin off the NYSE's regulatory arm -- recently invigorated after coming under intense criticism for failing to stem a floor-trading scandal -- into a not-for-profit oversight entity. That part of the deal answers the demands of some NYSE members who have been agitating for the exchange to turn for-profit in order to better compete as a business.
"I think the regulatory structure we're proposing will be a model for other self-regulating agencies," Thain said.
Pending regulatory approval, the merger is expected to be completed in either the fourth quarter of this year or the first quarter of next year, Thain said.
Major coup
Officials with both exchanges, in a conference call with investors, said the combined company could see US$100 million in savings this year and next, plus another US$100 million in 2007.
The deal is a major coup for Thain and a boost for a stock exchange that in recent years has been most notable for the controversy over the US$187.5 million pay package given former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) Richard Grasso.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
GEOPOLITICAL ISSUES? The economics ministry said that political factors should not affect supply chains linking global satellite firms and Taiwanese manufacturers Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) asked Taiwanese suppliers to transfer manufacturing out of Taiwan, leading to some relocating portions of their supply chain, according to sources employed by and close to the equipment makers and corporate documents. A source at a company that is one of the numerous subcontractors that provide components for SpaceX’s Starlink satellite Internet products said that SpaceX asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan because of geopolitical risks, pushing at least one to move production to Vietnam. A second source who collaborates with Taiwanese satellite component makers in the nation said that suppliers were directly
Top Taiwanese officials yesterday moved to ease concern about the potential fallout of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, making a case that the technology restrictions promised by the former US president against China would outweigh the risks to the island. The prospect of Trump’s victory in this week’s election is a worry for Taipei given the Republican nominee in the past cast doubt over the US commitment to defend it from Beijing. But other policies championed by Trump toward China hold some appeal for Taiwan. National Development Council Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) described the proposed technology curbs as potentially having
EXPORT CONTROLS: US lawmakers have grown more concerned that the US Department of Commerce might not be aggressively enforcing its chip restrictions The US on Friday said it imposed a US$500,000 penalty on New York-based GlobalFoundries Inc, the world’s third-largest contract chipmaker, for shipping chips without authorization to an affiliate of blacklisted Chinese chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯). The US Department of Commerce in a statement said GlobalFoundries sent 74 shipments worth US$17.1 million to SJ Semiconductor Corp (盛合晶微半導體), an affiliate of SMIC, without seeking a license. Both SMIC and SJ Semiconductor were added to the department’s trade restriction Entity List in 2020 over SMIC’s alleged ties to the Chinese military-industrial complex. SMIC has denied wrongdoing. Exports to firms on the list