Name: Nasdaq CEO: Tax Reform and Competitive Economy Spell Continued Success
Uploaded: 2018-01-26
Duration: 5 min 20 s
Description: Adena Friedman is fresh off a string of record breaking quarters, and she plans on keeping the streak going strong.

Adina, this has been such an amazing time for the NASDAQ. It hits one record on top of another record. What's it going to take to keep up this momentum? Well, I think it's really a a factor of the macroeconomic env rionment, as well as healthy enironment in terms from a tax perspective, from a regulatory perspective. You kind of feel like this weight is lifting off of What I would say, corporate America in terms of allowing us to do our jobs really well, allowing us to serve our clients really well, allowing us to make sure we're serving our employees well, and creating more of a competitive environment for the U. S. economy. And so you definitely feel that lift. That's obviously showing up in the markets. This is an unusal time and is there anything that concerns you. We see Nasdaq crossing the 7, 000 level. The Dow Jones average is getting close to the 26, 000 mile stone. What concerns you? For the most part we are seeing fundamental growth and therefore, the multiples that the companies are trading at, particularly in light of the tax change Are actually not that abnormal at all, as compared to a historical norm. We would not characterize it as exuberance, we're seeing it as healthy optimism around the growth of the country. Let's talk a little bit about IPOs cuz that is an indicator of the health of the markets. And the NASDAQ has had a banner year. 130 or more IPO's in 2017, do you see that trend continuing in 2018? We're seeing high demand across many sectors, but technology being a sector where there's a lot of great companies that are starting to prepare to enter the public markets. We're also seeing that in energy, with a recovery in energy, you're seeing more energy companies. Rates, the real estate market is strong. Health care continues to have really great, obviously great, innovation coming out into the markets. So you're definitely seeing kind of a very healthy environment for demand. And it's a matter of making sure the environment stays healthy as we go through the year. But it seems like there isn't much urgency to take a company public and have an IPO. There is so much new money iin the market, [ UNKNOWN ], hedge funds are investing in private companies. Coin currencies are available. What / How are you changing your strategy on pitching for IPO's? There is a lot of money in the private space. Companies have choice, so we want to make sure that Nasdaq helps them with that choice. Nasdaq first has something we've developed called the Nasdaq private market that allows us to play a role with them in helping them Do transactions in the private market. But the most important thing is to make sure that we are incredibly competitive in offering a great public market solution. So as you said, there are a lot of choices for companies that when they wanna go public. So what do you think of Spotify's IPO, a direct listing, bypassing Wall Street investment bankers and selling shares directly on the New York Stock Exchange. That's very specific to Spotify, so what is it that make it so that a company like that feels that they can do a direct listing? It means that they're not raising capital. So they don't feel the need to raise capital. They're very profitable already as an organization. Their brand is known globally. So they don't have to use it as a major visibility event for them and a marketing event for them. But it is still and it's gonna be interesting to see how the shares Open and how they are received in the marketplace without that capital- raising event and without the road show and without all the things that come with an IPO. Just sticking with Spotify for a moment, people are saying that this is gonna be the biggest tech IPO for This year it's going through the New York Stock Exchange. Too bad for the Nasdaq. But as you look ahead, what are you doing strategically to make sure you land the next hot one, whether it's Dropbox or Uber down the road? We win the majority of IPOs and so I think that's the first thing that I would want to make sure we point out. So I would love to win them all I don't win them all, and we can't win them all, but we do try to win every single IP that comes to market. So why do they choose Nasdaq? It is competitive, so why choose Nasdaq? I think the first thing is, that they see themselves as being part of the future. They see themselves as being part of the future of the economy. And we have the best and the biggest companies on the planet listed on Nasdaq today, the ones that are driving the future. So that brand affiliation is great. Adina, I have to ask you about Pepsi, and making a switch to the NASDAQ, leaving the NYSC after 100 years on the big board. Why the change, and what impact is this having on the NASDAQ? We are extremely proud to have Pepsi as part of the NASDAQ family. They've been a client to us in our investor intelligent space for a long time. So, every time they had a question about Who's investing in their stock, why is their stock changing? They would actually call NASDAQ, even though they were listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Then they looked at all of the assets we have again in Times square, online, all of the visibility assets we have, as they're really going after the next generation of Pepsi drinkers. Also that brand affiliation, of being in the Nasdaq 100, having a great passive investor in their stock, and being a part of the best companies in the world. I think that all of that combined to create the decision for them to join Nasdaq. They went for you in your first year as CEO of Nasdaq. How did you pull this off? I have to say it really was a team effort. I mean it really was A multi- year effort of us developing that relationship, it's just, to me, a great testament to the client first culture that we are really instilling here at Nasdaq. [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

Nasdaq CEO: Tax Reform and Competitive Economy Spell Continued Success

Leadership

Adena Friedman is fresh off a string of record breaking quarters, and she plans on keeping the streak going strong.