New York, NY—The Nasdaq Stock Market^® announced that Microsoft Corporation Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates opened the market today at 9:30 a.m. EDT, at the Nasdaq MarketSite, located in New York City. Hardwick "Wick" Simmons, Chairman and CEO of Nasdaq hosted the market opening ceremony.

Simmons and Gates were joined by a number of executives from leading Nasdaq-listed companies including Adobe Systems, Corel, Fuji Photo Film USA and Symantec Corporation, to celebrate 15 years of trading Microsoft on Nasdaq and the launch of the Microsoft Windows XP operating system this week.

"Since joining Nasdaq, Microsoft has grown to be one of the most innovative and well-respected companies in the world," said Simmons. "We are happy to have been a key part of that growth, and to celebrate with them here today."

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