New York, February 6, 2006 — The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) today announced it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Shareholder.com.
Shareholder.com will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of NASDAQ, now in its 14th year of providing best-in-class shareholder communications and intelligence services to publicly listed companies. Shareholder.com currently services over 1,000 clients, including companies listed on both domestic and foreign exchanges. Shareholder.com will continue to offer its comprehensive suite of services to all publicly traded companies who wish to optimize their investor relations capabilities.
Doug Ventola, who had served as Shareholder.com’s Chief Financial Officer, has been appointed President of Shareholder.com. “We look forward to our new relationship with NASDAQ, which recognizes that Shareholder employees are dedicated and focused on helping clients establish and maintain high value relationships with their shareholders.”
Shareholder.com’s former president and founder, Ronald Gruner, will become strategic advisor for both NASDAQ and Shareholder.com. Gruner will work with development teams on new initiatives that will continue to expand the organizations’ vision for all public companies.
NASDAQ Executive Vice President Bruce Aust said, “The acquisition of Shareholder.com is a continuation of NASDAQ’s strategy to maximize the value companies receive from NASDAQ. We will continue to explore new opportunities to enhance the listing and trading experience of the 3,100 companies who list with us.”
This transaction follows NASDAQ’s recent acquisitions of the INET ECN and Carpenter Moore Insurance Services.
About NASDAQ
NASDAQ is the largest U.S. electronic stock market. With more than 3,100 companies, it lists more companies and, on average, trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market. It is home to companies that are leaders across all areas of business including technology, retail, communications, financial services, transportation, media and biotechnology. NASDAQ is the primary market for trading NASDAQ-listed stocks. For more information about NASDAQ, visit the NASDAQ Web site at http://www.nasdaq.com or the NASDAQ Newsroom at http://www.nasdaq.com/newsroom/.
About Shareholder.com
Since 1992, Shareholder.com has facilitated communications between listed companies, their shareholders and the investment community. Shareholder.com provides a comprehensive suite of investor relations services, including creating and managing customized investor relations websites, audio/video web casts, conference call services, institutional targeting tools, annual report conversion, synchronous news dissemination, global fulfillment services, and Sarbanes-Oxley Whistleblower hotlines.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
The matters described herein may contain forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Nasdaq Stock market, Inc. (“NASDAQ”) cautions that these statements are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include projections which have not been reviewed by independent auditors of NASDAQ. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties or other factors beyond NASDAQ’s control. These factors include, but are not limited to, NASDAQ’s ability to implement its strategic initiatives, economic, political and market conditions and fluctuations, government and industry regulation, interest rate risk, U.S. and global competition, and other factors detailed in NASDAQ’s annual report on Form 10-K, and periodic reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, these statements are based on a number of assumptions that are subject to change. Accordingly, actual results may be materially higher or lower than those projected. The inclusion of such projections herein should not be regarded as a representation by NASDAQ that the projections will prove to be correct. We undertake no obligation to release any revisions to any forward-looking statements.
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