Nasdaq’s listings business is on course to eclipse that of bitter rival the New York Stock Exchange for just the second year since the dotcom bubble.
The Times Square-based exchange raised $32bn across 153 initial public offerings in the first 11 months of the year, outpacing the $26bn in 46 listings for NYSE, according to Dealogic data.
Nasdaq last surpassed the NYSE in 2012. Before that, the technology-heavy exchange had failed to edge ahead of the “Big Board” since 2000, during the giddy highs of the internet boom.
Nasdaq’s dominance for the year has upended the usual state of play in one of the most cut-throat rivalries on Wall Street. NYSE typically raises the biggest sum in IPO proceeds by securing the larger deals, while Nasdaq soaks up a greater number of smaller listings.
The contest has “always been intense”, said Nelson Griggs, president of the Nasdaq Stock Exchange. “Every single deal we fight for and for a larger IPO it’s a bigger fight.”
Column chart of IPO proceeds by exchange ($bn) showing Nasdaq heading for rare win over NYSE
Nasdaq secured two of the top five listings, including the third largest of the year for ride-hailing company Lyft. But the exchange lost out on the two largest deals to NYSE, with the top spot going to Uber, which raised $8bn when it went public in May.
Uber’s decision to list on the NYSE came a decade after the exchange dropped a policy that blocked lossmaking companies from listing — a move designed to weaken Nasdaq’s grip on the tech sector.
Over the past few decades, Nasdaq has attracted the likes of Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Facebook, which now form the largest companies by market capitalisation in the S&P 500 index.
Now a new front is emerging in this battle between the New York bourses. Nasdaq raised $4.7bn from biotech IPOS in the year to date, around 15 per cent of its total, while NYSE secured none. But in a move designed to attract biotech groups, NYSE cut listing fees by 75 per cent in May and capped them at $100,000 over three years for businesses with less than $5m in revenue that are valued above $200m.
Bar chart of ($ bn) showing NYSE secures top two biggest IPOS
John Tuttle, vice-chairman and chief commercial officer for NYSE, said the exchange “continued to execute the biggest IPOS of the year” and pointed to its ability to attract other deals including direct listings, where a company’s shares are released on to the market but no capital is raised, and special purpose acquisition companies, or “spacs”.
