TEXT OF STORY

Doug Krizner: The country’s oldest stock exchange is the Philadelphia. And it’s up for sale. Beginning today, bids will be accepted. Alisa Roth has more.

Alisa Roth: The New York Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ and a group of companies led by Goldman Sachs are all said to be interested in the Philadelphia exchange. Price tag’s around $600 million.

Philly’s CEO says he’s open to all kinds of offers, including selling the exchange, finding a partner or going public.

Michael Henry is an expert on exchanges at consulting firm Accenture. He says consolidation is the name of the game in the exchange business these days.

Michael Henry: In the future, there are going to be three or four large exchanges. They’re gonna be global, they’re gonna have multiple products and they’re gonna have enormous economies of scale on their technology, because they’re so big.

He says as exchanges grow, they look for ways to expand their services. He says they’ll start offering multiple products, like derivatives as well as data and technology business.

He says Philadelphia exchange has a thriving options business. Which will probably be very attractive to a prospective buyer.

In New York, I’m Alisa Roth for Marketplace.