SFO777
Jun 11, 12, 1:49 pm
Longwinded story in today's WSJ about the NASDAQ CEO being out of touch on May 18th when the NASDAQ's systems botched the FB IPO. But the interesting part is the clueless CEO who probably rarely flies commercial and didn't know that in flight phones on commercial flights died years ago and that not every airplane has internet service.
http://professional.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303753904577454611252477238.html?m od=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5&mg=reno64-wsj
For those without a subscription...
At the end of Facebook Inc.'s disastrous first day of trading May 18, the phone in Robert Greifeld's New York office rang.
It was Mary Schapiro, head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, wanting an explanation from the chief executive of Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. NDAQ -2.49% for the epidemic of glitches and delays in one of the most anticipated initial public offerings ever.
Mr. Greifeld couldn't talk. Having monitored the rocky process from Silicon Valley, where he had gone to join Facebook executives in remotely ringing the market's opening bell, he concluded the worst problems were fixed and caught a noon flight back to the East Coast.
So, marooned for almost five hours in business class with a phone he says didn't work, he didn't realize that continuing breakdowns at his exchange had left countless investors not knowing how many Facebook shares they had bought or sold and at what price, nor did he know the SEC chief wanted to reach him.
At 14 minutes after noon Eastern time, Mr. Greifeld's United flight left San Francisco for Newark, N.J. Flying at 37,000 feet, Mr. Greifeld was cut off from these stages of the mess. He had an armrest phone but it didn't work :D:rolleyes:, he says, adding there was no Internet access on the flight.
http://professional.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303753904577454611252477238.html?m od=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5&mg=reno64-wsj
For those without a subscription...
At the end of Facebook Inc.'s disastrous first day of trading May 18, the phone in Robert Greifeld's New York office rang.
It was Mary Schapiro, head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, wanting an explanation from the chief executive of Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. NDAQ -2.49% for the epidemic of glitches and delays in one of the most anticipated initial public offerings ever.
Mr. Greifeld couldn't talk. Having monitored the rocky process from Silicon Valley, where he had gone to join Facebook executives in remotely ringing the market's opening bell, he concluded the worst problems were fixed and caught a noon flight back to the East Coast.
So, marooned for almost five hours in business class with a phone he says didn't work, he didn't realize that continuing breakdowns at his exchange had left countless investors not knowing how many Facebook shares they had bought or sold and at what price, nor did he know the SEC chief wanted to reach him.
At 14 minutes after noon Eastern time, Mr. Greifeld's United flight left San Francisco for Newark, N.J. Flying at 37,000 feet, Mr. Greifeld was cut off from these stages of the mess. He had an armrest phone but it didn't work :D:rolleyes:, he says, adding there was no Internet access on the flight.