What is London Stock Exchange?
[[File:LSE_1.jpg|250px|thumb|The London Stock Exchange]] '''The London Stock Exchange''' (LSE) is a [[stock exchange]] in [[London]], [[England]]. It is the biggest [[stock exchange]] in the Europe and third largest in the world.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.world-exchanges.org/files/file/stats%20and%20charts/July%202010%20WFE%20Market%20Highlights.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2013-04-03 |archive-date=2013-07-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130722235155/http://www.world-exchanges.org/files/file/stats%20and%20charts/July%202010%20WFE%20Market%20Highlights.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Royal Exchange, London was officially opened on 23 January 1571 by [[Elizabeth I|Queen Elizabeth I]]. This is where the regulated stock market started. From 1801 dealers had to pay a subscription. The government used the Exchange's organised market (and would most likely not have managed without it) to raise the enormous amount of money required for the wars against [[Napoleon]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ranald Michie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZCaQDwAAQBAJ&q=London%20Stock%20Exchange%20First%20Rule%20Book&pg=PA37 |title=The London Stock Exchange: A History |date=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780191529344 |access-date=7 June 2019 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111193044/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZCaQDwAAQBAJ&q=London%20Stock%20Exchange%20First%20Rule%20Book&pg=PA37 |url-status=live }}</ref> The new Stock Exchange Tower was opened on 8 November 1972; it was a new City landmark, with a 23,000 sq ft (2,100 m<sup>2</sup>) [[trading floor]]. From 1973 women and foreign-born members were allowed. The London Stock Exchange formally [[merged]] with the eleven British and Irish regional exchanges. It became a company, no longer owned by its members in 2001. In 2004 it moved to a brand-new headquarters in Paternoster Square. It bought [[Refinitiv]], a financial data company, in 2019 for $27 billion. It then sold [[Borsa Italia