Scoring the Battle for the Big Board
The gloves have come off in the battle for the New York Stock Exchange.</br></br>In one corner, a scrappy New Yorker with a savvy southerner at his side. In the other, a heavily favored European powerhouse first stunned by the fury of a rival attack, now starting to punch back.</br></br>Nasdaq OMX Group and IntercontinentalExchange Inc. of Atlanta are battling Deutsche Boerse AG for NYSE Euronext, the product of a 2007 merger that owns the world's most-recognized stock market and a profitable European derivatives arm.</br></br>On Sunday, NYSE Euronext's board landed a blow to the Nasdaq-ICE bid. The board rejected its rival's offer, calling it "strategically unattractive" because it would break up NYSE Euronext, burden the new company with high levels of debt, and destroy "its invaluable human capital." That doesn't mean Nasdaq-ICE is down for the count. The companies may take their proposal directly to NYSE Euronext shareholders.</br></br>With the stakes high between Nasdaq/ICE and Deutsche Boerse, verbal blows are flying. Each side is calling the other's arguments laughable, delusional, disingenuous, and worse. Who is right?