Nasdaq Will Close Its Japanese Subsidiary

Nasdaq Japan will terminate its loss-making joint venture with the Osaka Stock Exchange. A special board meeting was held on Thursday evening to approve the US Nasdaq's recommendation to close its Japanese subsidiary only two years after its launch. Nasdaq is expected to wind down its operations in the next few months and pull out of Japan completely by November. Senior officials at Nasdaq International blamed poor market conditions, a weak Japanese economy and regulatory hurdles for the failure of Nasdaq Japan. Backers of Nasdaq Japan, which is 43 per cent owned by the US Nasdaq and 43 per cent by Softbank, the Japanese venture capital company, had hoped it would become the new home for technology start-ups. However, it has only 100 listed companies, about half the number it hoped to have by now. It also forecast it would attract 2,000 companies by 2005, a prediction that seems highly unrealistic now. Nasdaq International said listed companies would not see a disruption to their trading because they would still have access to capital markets through the OSE. ©

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