| American billionaire Kenneth Langone (his fortune was estimated by Forbes magazine at $1.2 billion) recently announced that he was going to buy the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and transfer it completely to an electronic trading system. Now he is preparing and carefully formulating all the positions of his proposal. One of them will be the exchange’s refusal to purchase the Chicago-based electronic trading system Archipelago Holdings Inc. for $3.2 billion. Unrest began among the owners of places on the NYSE. Traders are seriously concerned about the possibility of losing their places in the event of a gradual closure of the site, where trading has been carried out manually for 213 years.
Mr. Langon should soon send his proposal to the board of directors of the exchange, which will decide the fate of the NYSE. The NYSE is now a non-profit organization governed by a board of brokers who work on it. Two years ago, Mr. Langon served on the exchange's board of directors. But he chose to leave him in 2003 after his close friend, the former head of the NYSE, Richard Grass, was forced to leave his post due to too high fees, which he assigned to himself. Mr. Langon was also suspected of making unjustifiably high profits. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer believes Mr. Langone has yet to repay the undeserved $12 million.
However, Mr. Langon’s idea to block the deal to purchase Archipelago Holdings Inc. there are supporters from among traders. They believe that the head of the exchange, John Thain, has a direct interest in the transaction. They reinforce this position by the fact that at one time Mr. Thain headed the financial operations department at the well-known corporation Goldman Sachs, which owns 15% of Archipelago. In addition, it is puzzling that until the last moment the very fact of the merger was kept secret. Only the board of directors knew about the deal, and the other participants in the events were presented with a fait accompli at the time of the official announcement. John Mack, a former chief executive of such prominent American banking corporations as Credit Suisse First Boston and Morgan Stanley, has led a large group of shareholders who want to prevent a merger with the Chicago stock exchange. He told the AP that he had a detailed conversation with Mr. Thain and made him promise to explain the deal to Wall Street firms and meet with members of his team.
The New York Stock Exchange has 1,366 seats, each with voting rights. For the purchase of Archipelago to go ahead, two-thirds of the seats must vote in favor. The bulk of the votes come from five large firms, with a much smaller share from small firms and private traders. Mr Thain's supporters are confident the merger will be supported by a majority vote. Denis UVAROV
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