Nasdaq and Softbank to Start Japanese Version of Nasdaq Market
Bloomberg News
June 14, 1999, 1:53 p.m. PT
Nasdaq and Softbank to Start Japanese Version of Nasdaq Market
Washington, June 14 (Bloomberg) -- The Nasdaq Stock Market
and Tokyo-based Softbank Corp. plan to create a Japanese version
of the electronic, dealer-run Nasdaq market, a person with
knowledge of the agreement said.
The market will focus on companies with sales in both the
United States and Japan, including some U.S. companies that
already trade on Nasdaq, the person said. American and Japanese
broker-dealers both would trade shares on the new market, which
is expected to start operating as soon as next year, the person
said.
National Association of Securities Dealers Chairman Frank
Zarb, who is in Tokyo discussing the plan with Japan's Ministry
of Finance, plans to announce the venture tomorrow at 8:30 a.m.
New York time in a news conference from Tokyo and New York, the
person said. NASD is an industry group that operates Nasdaq, the
second-largest U.S. stock market, and the American Stock
Exchange.
NASD spokesman Andrew MacMillan declined comment. Nasdaq's
plans were reported today in Japan's Nihon Keizai newspaper.
Nasdaq will be working with Softbank and some other
companies, which haven't yet been selected, to set up the new
market, the person said. Softbank is one of the world's largest
financiers of online businesses, with stakes in E*Trade Group
Inc., 28 percent of Yahoo! Inc., and other companies. The Tokyo-
based company last week said it would invest $80 million for a 30-
percent stake in Global Sports Inc., a U.S. sporting goods
distributor that operates on online retail business.
Japan has an over-the-counter index, called Jasdaq, on which
Japanese-based companies are listed. It isn't clear how the new
market would relate to Jasdaq.
Zarb, who is in fierce competition with the New York Stock
Exchange and electronic trading networks such as Reuters Group
Plc's Instinet Corp., has been pursuing affiliations with eight
international stock markets on four continents. He has said his
goal is to forge links that would let companies trade their
shares around the world.
Nasdaq and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong said in December
that they agreed on the first steps of what could be a broader
alliance between the two markets. Zarb also said in April that
NASD plans to open a Shanghai office next year to recruit more
Chinese companies to list on Nasdaq. |
