Sunday, March 24, 2013

Kraft Moves to Nasdaq from Big Board; Was ‘Facebook Effect’ Overhyped?

Yes, Nasdaq may have bungled Facebook’s (FB) IPO, but that doesn’t apparently mean that public companies don’t trust it anymore. Kraft (KFT) announced today that it will switch its listing from NYSE (of NYSE Euronext (NYX)) to the Nasdaq (NDAQ) later this month to cut costs.

Following the IPO, which was delayed and caused so much confusion that some traders had no idea whether their buy orders had been processed. Nasdaq expects to set aside $40 million handle the fallout. But numerous analysts argued that the long-term damage to Nasdaq could be more severe as other companies worried about the glitches shun the exchange.

Kraft’s move will actually gain Nasdaq two clients eventually.

“As previously announced, Kraft Foods Inc. will be dividing into two industry-leading public companies before the end of the year: a high-growth global snacks business called Mondelez International, Inc., and a high-margin North American grocery business called Kraft Foods Group, Inc. �Both of these companies will trade on the NASDAQ exchange.”

Of course, the exchange’s most important test may be the next big IPO. If Twitter goes public in the next year or so, where will it list (and will its ticker be TWIT)?

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