U.S. Market - Why List on NASDAQ?

12 facts that make NASDAQ the best stock market for companies and investors.

1. NASDAQ is the stock exchange for industry leaders, recognized around the globe as the largest and most renowned U.S. market.

   NASDAQ has more listed companies (approximately 2,800), trades more volume (approximately 2 billion shares daily) and handles more IPOs (over 500 since 2000) than any other U.S. exchange. In a recent update of a multi-year study of investors, NASDAQ was the most widely-recognized stock market, with greater brand recognition than any other U.S. exchange. And listed companies agree — 2005 was the first time in history more companies switched to NASDAQ from the NYSE than vice versa.

2. NASDAQ has significant penetration in a broad range of industry sectors — financial, industrial, healthcare and consumer companies comprise over 50% of NASDAQ listings.

   Category-defining, innovative NASDAQ companies like Sirius Satellite, JetBlue, Starbucks, Costco, Google, Charles Schwab, Fifth Third Bank and Staples touch the lives of people across the globe every day. NASDAQ also has significant constituencies in Europe, Israel, China and India. Companies from around the world and all segments of the business community are attracted to NASDAQ's value proposition as a listing and trading venue.

3. NASDAQ has the world's highest listing standards.

   NASDAQ's Global Select Market, has financial and corporate governance listing standards that are more stringent than any exchange in the world, including the NYSE. Over 1,000 NASDAQ-listed companies qualify under these standards to create a world-class, top-tier marketplace. NASDAQ itself adheres to these most stringent standards setting an example of best-in-class governance.

4. SEC required data, reported by all market centers shows that NASDAQ performs better for investors.

   SEC Rule 605 (formerly known as Rule 11Ac1-5 or "Dash 5") data shows that NASDAQ stocks trade at faster speeds, with tighter spreads and greater certainty of execution. And those differences add up. On average, a NASDAQ stock with a $1 billion market cap that trades more than one million shares per day has $1.5 million lower trading costs per year than a similar stock on the NYSE.

5. NASDAQ is #1 on the NYSE.

   NASDAQ executed more share volume on the NYSE floor than any other member in September 2006. NASDAQ Execution Services — the NASDAQ broker-dealer — executed 7.2 billion shares on the NYSE — an average of 362 million shares per day. That outpaced the second largest firm by more than 1.5 billion shares for the month. (Source: NYSE Broker Volume Report) NASDAQ is increasingly the preferred venue for trading NYSE-listed stocks. Buy-side traders are "voting with their order flow" in favor of NASDAQ's fully-automated, competitive, transparent and accessible market structure. NYSE market share of NYSE-listed trading has recently dropped to as low as 61.9% (with the NYSE often handling less than a majority of the shares in higher-volume names — even in its own stock), as the buy side flocks to NASDAQ and other electronic markets.

6. NASDAQ is a better product with lower listing fees.

   NASDAQ's fees are lower than the NYSE for initial listing, annual fees, and fees for the listing of additional shares. Annual fees for larger companies can be over 80% less on NASDAQ. Even for smaller companies, the savings add up — a company that has 50 million total shares outstanding and does one stock split will save $500,000 on fees over five years by listing on NASDAQ.

7. Financial products based on NASDAQ Indexes

   offer a controlled influx of capital from institutional investors with unparalleled exposure for both large and small companies. With the NASDAQ-100 Index Tracking Stock PowerShares (Symbol: QQQQ) being the most actively traded liquid equity in the U.S., NASDAQ-100 listed companies gain a significant and passive shareholder. To that point, as of June 2006, the QQQ trust is over $17 billion and the IBB (the NASDAQ biotechnology ETF) fund is approximately $2 billion in assets.

8. NASDAQ companies benefit from NASDAQ's unmatched visibility properties.

   Industry-leading institutional investor conferences give companies the ability to gain significant exposure to potential international investors. Consumer and B-to-B brands benefit from a major Times Square presence through the NASDAQ MarketSite, and millions of visitors a day are using NASDAQ.com as their primary resource for information on companies.

9. NASDAQ provides comprehensive, unbiased trading analysis.

   The NASDAQ Market Intelligence Desk is staffed by professionals who, armed with NASDAQ proprietary and industry leading third party data, are solely tasked with giving NASDAQ-listed companies insight into the trading activity of their stock and their peers' stocks, regardless of where they are listed. This service is proactive and reactive, customizable to the needs of the company, without the potential bias of similar analysis from a specialist that is trading for their own account.

10. NASDAQ Corporate Services provides listed companies unparalleled product and service support

    essential to being a publicly-traded company in the areas of market intelligence, investor relations, risk management and corporate governance. All NASDAQ-listed companies have a dedicated relationship manager to facilitate their access to NASDAQ products and services. Press release distribution, investor relations website management and conference call support, facilitation of independent third-party research and corporate governance services are just some of the ways NASDAQ makes becoming and being a public company easier and less expensive.

11. NASDAQ leverages customer feedback to drive continued innovation;

    NASDAQ is relentlessly innovating to improve our listing product. From acquisitions to broaden our global reach and visibility, trading technology to improve secondary offerings and IPO pricing efficiency performance, to the creation of new indexes and other visibility enhancements, NASDAQ never stops its efforts to improve the value of being a NASDAQ-listed company.

12. NASDAQ is a solid, well run and well regulated business.

    At NASDAQ we believe good regulation is good business. NASDAQ has strong financials and competitive momentum and is leading the way in global expansion. Our income streams are diversified across Issuer Services and Market Services comprised of four strong business lines with diverse revenue streams. NASDAQ is the master in the electronic trading space and we are well positioned for opportunity.