Mayor Hartsfield would be so proud.
Atlanta-based “upstart” IntercontinentalExchange will purchase the New York Stock Exchange for $8.2 billion if everything passes muster. If it does, ICE will run the new company with one office still on Wall Street and another near the Hooch. NYSE CEO Duncan Niederauer didn’t pull any punches in a release to the staff of the (current) Manhattan headquarters, conceding that this “is an acquisition, not a merger of equals.”
While this is a sad day for the venerable institution—so identified with New York history as it is—it’s a wonderful day for Atlanta’s financial market! (Presumably especially for those seeking jobs.) It’s still unclear how all of this will work out, but as I recall from various Arrested Development viewings, you can’t have a party without ICE.
First we had an airport, then we got the Olympics, now we’re snagging the symbol of American capitalism. Go, Atlanta, go!
[h/t New York]
Photograph by mrak75/Flickr