But last month’s selection of Robert Greifeld, 45, to be the next Nasdaq CEO may make such a move a lot less likely, say people who know him.
During his long tenure as an executive vice president at SunGard Data Systems, Greifeld rankled Wall Street traders as well as the top managements of the electronic communications networks that Nasdaq could be expected to buy. Both groups have been frustrated by the slowness of SunGard’s Brass order-management service for Nasdaq stocks -- which until recently enjoyed a monopoly over that business -- to build connections between trading firms and ECNs. SunGard owns a stake in Brut, a second-tier ECN, and was thought by many in the market to be favoring Brut at the expense of its customers. ECN executives like Jerry Putnam, CEO of Archipelago -- a likely acquisition target for Nasdaq -- fumed at SunGard’s foot-dragging.
“He and Jerry don’t have the best relationship,” says a senior Wall Street trading executive who knows both Putnam and Greifeld. Furthermore, Archipelago last month withdrew its quotes from Nasdaq’s highly ballyhooed but so far unimpressive SuperMontage trading platform and immediately gained market share at Nasdaq’s expense. (Putnam was unavailable for comment, but an Archipelago spokeswoman says that she’s unaware of tension between the executives and that no deal is on the table.)
Greifeld, who starts work this month, has indicated that he’ll abandon the failed strategy of making Nasdaq a global, 24-7 stock market -- a dream that departing CEO Wick Simmons clung to even after the market had moved against him (Institutional Investor, September 2002). Chosen in part for his experience running lean, profitable businesses for SunGard, Greifeld will focus on fixing Nasdaq’s U.S. operations. Simmons thought acquiring an ECN was one way to accomplish that goal. But that may be one more vestige of the old regime that Greifeld chooses to sweep away.
