In December 2005, the London Stock Exchange Group rejected a £1.6 billion takeover offer from Macquarie Bank. The LSE described the offer as "derisory". It then received a bid in March 2006 for £2.4 billion from NASDAQ, which was also rejected by the LSE. NASDAQ later pulled its bid, and less than two weeks later on April 11, 2006, struck a deal with LSE's largest shareholder, Ameriprise Financial's Threadneedle Asset Management unit, to acquire all of that firm's stake, consisting of 35.4 million shares, at £11.75 per share. NASDAQ also purchased 2.69 million additional shares, resulting in a total stake of 15%. While the seller of those shares was undisclosed, it occurred simultaneously with a sale by Scottish Widows of 2.69 million shares. The move was seen as an effort to force LSE to negotiate either a partnership or eventual merger, as well as to block other suitors such as NYSE Euronext, owner of the New York Stock Exchange. Subsequent purchases increased NASDAQ's stake to 29%, holding off competing bids for several months. However, only a further 0.4% of shareholders accepted the offer by the deadline and therefore the offer was rejected on February 10, 2007.
On May 25, 2007, NASDAQ agreed to buy OMX, the Swedish-Finnish financial company that controls 7 Nordic and Baltic stock exchanges, for US$3.7 billion to form NASDAQ OMX Group. As of February 27, 2008, the deal was completed.
On December 12, 2012, NASDAQ OMX announced that it would acquire Thomson Reuters' investor relations, public relations and multimedia businesses for $390 million in cash. NASDAQ OMX completed the purchase on June 3, 2013.
Launch of Nasdaq Ventures
In April 2017, Nasdaq launched Nasdaq Ventures, a venture investment program focused on companies that will help Nasdaq grow its product lines and open new market segments. The first 3 companies announced as part of the program are Chain, a blockchain technology company; Digital Reasoning, cognitive computing technology; and Hanweck, real-time risk analytics.
During Christmas of 2018, shareholders representing 25% of Oslo Børs VPS Holding held an private auction of share sale. Nasdaq did not participate in the auction due the hostile nature of the bid. Euronext has won the auction, and later secured another 24,6% of shareholder support, totalling 49.6%. Following, Nasdaq acquired 32.5% shares in open market, and submitted an official bid, with unanimous recommendations from board and some key shareholders, to acquire remaining shares for 152 NOK, and later increased offer to 158 NOK, additionally making the case to Norway's markets regulator that in cases like this, 2/3 of the share control may be necessary to comply with any applicable regulatory requirement. In the end regulator did not side with the two-thirds requirements, and general majority was deemed to be applicable. Euronext by that time had acquired or secured control of 50.5% shares, and Nasdaq had announced on May 25, 2019 that they were pulling out of the Oslo Bors battle, handing Euronext the victory.
Additional services
NASDAQ Inc. partners with stock exchanges all over the world. One of the most recent partnerships was signed with Astana International Financial Centre in May 2017. According to the agreement, NASDAQ will power Kazakhstan's nascent stock exchange, the AIFC Exchange.
Global Information Services
In January 2013, NASDAQ OMX announced that it would combine its global data products and index businesses into a unit called Global Information Services, as part of an ongoing effort to broaden its portfolio.
provides press release, editing and wire services. It was founded in 1998 and acquired by NASDAQ OMX in 2006.
SMARTS
On July 27, 2010, NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. acquired SMARTS Group, a provider of market surveillance systems to exchanges, regulators and brokers. SMARTS Group had been a private company operating in Sydney, Australia, incorporating the market analysis software of Michael James Aitken. By 2017 SMARTS remained the leading market surveillance software, and was employed by thirteen regulators on forty-five exchanges.
Carpenter Moore
NASDAQ OMX sold its stake in the Carpenter Moore D&O Insurance in 2009.
