Perhaps the folks running the Nasdaq Stock Market (NDAQ) are like the gang who couldn’t shot straight. After their several bids for the London Stock Exchange were rejected, it appeared that they had cut a firm deal to buy the OMX exchange in Stockholm.
The $3.7 billion that NDAQ planned to pay for OMX put a number of investor off. It’s shares dropped as much as 6% the day the deal was announced.
Now it appears there may not be a deal at all. The Dubai International Financial Center, which runs the Dubai exchange, may be planning a better offer for OMX.
Nasdaq should do what it can to avoid any more embarrasing news. Shares in the rival NYSE/Euronext Group (NYX) are up almost 40% over the last year. During that time, the exchange made a successful bid for Euronext. Nasdaq’s shares are up only 10% over the same period.
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.