After three years of on-again, off-again deal talks, BATS Global Markets Inc Chief Executive Joe Ratterman and Direct Edge Holdings LLC's Bill O'Brien met in April over lunch at a restaurant in New York's Tribeca neighborhood.The exchange operators, both backed by big banks and originally set up to undermine the dominance of NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX Group Inc, were feeling the same headwinds as their larger rivals.Already razor-thin, profit margins were under further pressure amid a three-yearlong decline in stock trading as economic uncertainty relegated retail investors to the sidelines and low market volatility also hit volumes.The solution was to combine to gain scale, cut costs and use the expanded platform and data to generate new streams of revenue. On Monday, BATS and Direct Edge said they would merge.
The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (NASDAQ OMX) is a holding company. Shares of NDAQ fell by 0.58% or $-0.18/share to $30.65. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $22.60 and as high as $34.41. On average, 1220620 shares of NDAQ exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1187269.
NYSE Euronext is a global operator of financial markets and provider of trading solutions. Shares of NYX fell by 0.77% or $-0.33/share to $42.33. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $22.25 and as high as $43.25. On average, 1254480 shares of NYX exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1907602.
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