The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. has decided to shutter its European business to focus on its core business.
At an extraordinary general meeting held Thursday, the shareholders of Nasdaq Europe voted to discontinue operations of the pan-European stock market located in Belgium in which Nasdaq has a majority stake.
As a result, an orderly wind down of market operations will take place, with completion expected no later than Jan. 5, 2004.
Other initiatives Nasdaq plans to discontinue are:
- the Bulletin Board Exchange, which was a proposed listing platform for companies not eligible for listing on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market;
- NQLX, a joint venture with the London International Financial Futures Exchange to create a market for single stock futures and other futures products;
- the Liquidity Tracker automated order routing system; and
- Nasdaq Tools, an order management system.
As a result of these changes, Nasdaq will eliminate approximately 80 positions. It says that it is in the process of calculating charges associated with the discontinuation of these products.
“We will focus only on products, services and initiatives that help us achieve our goals of delivering a better solution to investors, market participants and listed companies,” said Robert Greifeld, Nasdaq president and CEO, in a news release.