It was big news on Wall Street and around the world. On Feb. 15, German stock exchange Deutsche Börse A.G. and NYSE Euronext Inc., the operator of the New York Stock Exchange, announced their intention to merge through an all-stock deal valued at nearly $10 billion. The newly formed Dutch holding company would become the largest futures exchange in the world.
Critics of the deal lamented the overseas migration of the New York Stock Exchange ownership — a symbol of American capitalism dating to 1792. But NYSE Euronext shareholders saw even bigger problems: namely, that they would be saddled with undervalued stock and would lack a majority stake in the newly formed company.
