NY Post: NYSE Might Be Sold as Soon as Next Year

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), owner of the New York Stock Exchange, will ultimately sell the venerable Big Board, experts tell the New York Post. And that sale could come as soon as next year, they say.

ICE is in the midst of a restructuring of the NYSE, which it purchased in 2013, that includes a technological and regulatory overhaul.

"There is only one move, and that is a sale or spinoff of the NYSE," Jim Osman, CEO of the Edge Consulting Group in London, a research firm that specializes in spinoffs and special situations, told the Post.

Now that the ICE has dumped most of its stake in Euronext, exiting the NYSE is the logical next step, he said.

"We believe post-divestiture of the European business, it might now look to divest NYSE, . . . considering the fact that its core interest area [is] the [London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange.]"

The NYSE makes little money on its stock-trading business, but subsists on listing fees and data services. The live floor trading at the NYSE is largely a thing of the past.

The NYSE has drafted a proposal to address outside criticism, including steps to steer most trades away from private arenas such as dark pools and to make exchanges slash trading fees, Bloomberg reports.

"We have been meeting with members of the industry for the past year and trying to facilitate compromise on a key set of issues that investors care about," Jeff Sprecher, CEO of ICE, said in a statement obtained by the news service.

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