This video features an insightful conversation between Jason Kelly, Alex Rodriguez, and Adina Friedman, the CEO of Nasdaq. The discussion takes place in New York and delves into the operations of Nasdaq, with a focus on its involvement in the financial and sports sectors. Adina Friedman shares her journey and experiences as a leader, touching on her career path, the importance of vision, and her personal drive and competitiveness. The talk also covers the potential for sports teams to become publicly traded, emphasizing the growing intersection of sports, entertainment, and business.

Throughout the video, Adina Friedman discusses how Nasdaq functions as a global technology company serving the financial ecosystem, providing insights into its operations and service offerings. She explains her day-to-day role and how she motivates her team to drive company growth while maintaining client satisfaction. The video highlights her ability to push through fear, how her upbringing influenced her drive, and her approach to leadership and management at Nasdaq.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. conglomerate [kənˈɡlɑːməˌreɪt] - (noun) - A large corporation composed of several different companies operating in various industries. - Synonyms: (corporation, enterprise, company)

franchise values are going up at such a high rate that a lot of these conglomerates that people are building, it may end up in the Nasdaq.

2. ecosystem [ˈiːkoʊˌsɪstəm] - (noun) - A complex network or interconnected system. - Synonyms: (system, structure, network)

this idea of a sports ecosystem that is much bigger than the teams themselves.

3. pivot [ˈpɪvət] - (noun / verb) - A significant change in strategy or direction, often used in business contexts when referring to a shift in approach or focus. - Synonyms: (shift, turn, change)

she's a role model and fascinating pivot. From Nasdaq to CFO Carlisle back to CEO.

4. cadence [ˈkeɪdns] - (noun) - A rhythm or flow in activity or communication, often used to describe a regular sequence or routine. - Synonyms: (rhythm, flow, pattern)

The hard part, though, is executing against that vision. That's when you really got to roll those sleeves up and get engaged, establish a routine, establish a cadence.

5. parlay [pɑːrˈleɪ] - (verb) - To transform or increase something into a greater amount or to take advantage of an initial success into further achievements. - Synonyms: (capitalize, leverage, exploit)

how do you then parlay that need into a capability?

6. succession [səkˈsɛʃən] - (noun) - The process of inheriting a title, office, or position, typically within a company or organization. - Synonyms: (progression, sequence, inheritance)

he was starting to think about succession, but, you know, he wasn't ready.

7. cadence [ˈkeɪdns] - (noun) - The rhythm or flow of events, often used to describe the order of steps in a process. - Synonyms: (pace, tempo, sequence)

you have to get engaged, establish a routine, establish a cadence of driving that vision forward.

8. ethos [ˈiːθɒs] - (noun) - The characteristic spirit, moral values, or guiding beliefs of a person, group, or institution. - Synonyms: (spirit, values, beliefs)

that whole ethos I think is actually an important part of the culture.

9. virtuous cycle [ˈvɜːrtʃuəs ˈsaɪkəl] - noun (compound) - A positive feedback loop in which favorable outcomes reinforce actions that produce further favorable results. - Synonyms: (success sequence, positive reinforcement, beneficial cycle)

And I think it becomes this what I call virtuous cycle.

10. maniacal [məˈnaɪəkəl] - (adjective) - Excessively enthusiastic or obsessed, sometimes to the point of being unbalanced. - Synonyms: (obsessive, fanatical, deranged)

I’m competitive, but I don't think it's maniacal.

Why Nasdaq’s Adena Friedman Says Sports Teams Should Go Public - The Deal

I'm Jason Kelly. I'm Alex Rodriguez, and we are here in New York. We're going to talk Nasdaq. The CEO of Nasdaq, Adina Friedman, is going to stop by, tell us all about the deals that she's making, including in the world of sports. She loves sports and she understands the cross between sports, entertainment, and culture, which is what her show is about. And I actually think that we're a little bit ahead of the curve because franchise values are going up at such a high rate that a lot of these conglomerates that people are building, it may end up in the Nasdaq. And I think she's prepared for it. Right. Atlanta Braves, my Atlanta Braves. They are publicly traded on the Nasdaq, the only MLB team to be. So you have to expect that they're going to be more such teams. And this idea of a sports ecosystem that is much bigger than the teams themselves. DraftKings are publicly traded on the Nasdaq. Plus all the technology that's underneath all these sports teams. And as you say, access to capital is going to be massive around the world of sports coming up. Absolutely. The public markets are there. They're waiting. And I believe, Jason, that a lot of teams are watching very carefully to see if this is maybe a possible outcome for them. And what's interesting, too, is Adina is a deal maker at her core. Nasdaq is in the business of deals. You know, a public listing is often one of the most important moments in a company's history. She's right there. She sees it all. I think the audience is going to be very interested and surprised to see the scale of Nasdaq, how they make money, which she explained beautifully. But the other thing to remember is she's a role model and fascinating pivot. From Nasdaq to CFO Carlisle back to CEO. Right. And that's. That's awesome. She's also black belt at Taekwondo and a huge, huge Washington Commanders fan. And we get into that as well.

All right, coming up on the deal, Adina Friedman. All right, so we like to start this show by having the guest introduce themselves. So tell us who you are and what you do. I'm Adina Friedman. I'm the chair and CEO of Nasdaq. And so what do you do? Like, what does that job entail? Well, Nasdaq today is a global technology company that serves the entire financial ecosystem. So our exchanges are our foundation. And then on top of that, we have a whole suite of data and software solutions that serve the industry. So when I go to work every day. You know, I focus our team on how are we making sure that we're driving our strategy, how are we executing, what are our clients asking us for or are we meeting the needs? We literally spend every minute of the day focusing on that. And it's been fun. And honestly, it's a great, great team effort. So what does a great day look like and what is kind of a so, so day look like? Well, every day I feel like I have to earn my living. You know, I always said that every single day you have to make a difference and it can be small. So in the days that you make a bigger difference, where maybe you, you win a big deal or you launch a new service or you do something that's totally unique and different in the industry, like the first to, you know, create a new capability in trading or whatever it is, those are big days, fun, exciting days. And then the days that are, eh, are the days where you get, you go to the end of the day and you go, okay, what exactly did I do to further the business today? Right, right. And do you sometimes have days like that too? Is that sort of your M.O. was that your mentality coming in or was that something that you sort of learned along the way?

I got, got to NASDAQ in 1993 as an intern and then made. Made it so that I became a permanent employee after that. And I did come to work every single day with the attitude of I've got to make a difference every single day to earn my keep. They're giving me a, they're giving me a paycheck, I better earn it. And I really did think about it every single day. I mean, it is actually what has driven me throughout my entire career. Where does that come from? I mean, is that like your upbringing? What's inside or underneath that? Yeah, I do think that it comes from my family, my parents. My dad worked so hard his entire career. He spent his whole career at T re Price. He was an investment manager, but he came from a very different background. His father was a missionary minister and he grew up in Portugal. And so he came to college on a scholarship and he started with very little. And then my mom went back to law school when I was 9 and became a lawyer when I was 11. So I got to see her launch her career and see how much effort it took to kind of come into the legal profession. And then she became the first female partner in her law firm. And they never took anything for granted. I mean, and I, since I grew up seeing that We. We started with little. A little and ended up doing well. You know, I also saw the benefits of all that hard work over time, too. So I think all of that really parlays into my. My work ethic and my attitude in life. And so you're. You're a kid. Are you playing sports? Because, you know, one of the commonalities I know we find when we're talking to top executives is they played sports, they have some interest or some dedication that is underneath this drive and discipline. Right.

I did play sports, and it was interesting. When I was young, I wanted to do everything. I wanted to do gymnastics, and I wanted to do ballet, and I wanted to do karate, and I wanted to do tennis. And I. My mom was like, you just have to start to focus. So she let me try everything and then say, okay, what is it that you really like? What do you want to go back to? So I ended up studying ballet for 10 years, and I played varsity tennis in my high school, but I did not take it beyond high school. But those two things were very good at focusing me and making it so that I had that discipline of always striving for something bigger, striving for the win, and being very competitive.

All right, so this is going to be the toughest question by far in the interview. I'm obsessed with this thing that I read about you. You're a black belt in Taekwondo, but Jason and I are white belts. Sub white belts. I think whatever is less than that. I feel like if we ask the wrong question, we're going to get drop kicked. So be careful. No, but, Athena, seriously, like, how long did it take you to go from start to black belt? And is that something that you think has helped you in your career? Yeah, actually, I. I do think it has helped. It took me 10 years to go from starting to getting my black belt. Wow. And I found that it was an incredible discipline. Honestly, the thing that is the hardest thing about Taekwondo is sparring. You know, the skills building was the fun, easy, not easy, but fun part for me. The sparring was the scary part for me. And one of the things I've really focus on is getting through your fear. Your fear has always been a driver for me. So how do you get past your fear? How do you conquer that? Um, and I cannot say that I've ever, honestly ever conquered my fear sparring. But learning how to play offense and defense simultaneously is one of the most important things you can learn in sparring. Similar to, like, chess, you know, every offensive move, there's a Counter to that. So in sparring, if you focus too much on. On how am I going to land that kick, how am I get that punch in? They could come and kick you in the gut in the meantime, and then you're. You're done. So learning how to play offense and defense simultaneously I think is the best thing I've been able to learn in terms of parlaying that into business.

All right, so you just settled a couple of things that I want to unpack. I mean, one is this idea of fear drives you. Tell us about that. Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I've had moments, you know, in my life where my parents were always in the right way, pushing me out of the nest. Right. So when I was 10, as I said, my. My dad grew up in Portugal, and my dad. My parents just put me on a plane by myself to Portugal and said, go find your grandparents on the other end. And, you know, and when you're 10, I mean, I know a lot of kids have done that, but for me, that was a moment of fear. I don't know if a lot of people. But, you know, you get on that plane by yourself, and you go, I can't do this. And then you get to the other side, and suddenly they're there, and you have the experience and adventure of your life, you know, and it was an amazing thing. I'd only met them a couple times before, so it was just a great opportunity. And I kept back on the plane on the way back, and I'm like, I know what I'm doing. And so you learn to conquer fear. My parents are very good at putting me in situations where I had to conquer fear. So I then learned how to fly when I was in college. And you have moments when you have to conquer fear. When you're learning how to fly, you kind of face a little bit of mortality and getting past that and making sure that you realize that you have to, like, you have to figure this out. It's not like you can give up. You have to figure out how to land the plane. And so those are the types of situations I put myself in up until I started work. And there. That was when, you know, there were moments in my career where I was offered an opportunity, and I'd be like, how am I going to do that? But at the same time, you have to find. I found fear of failure was what actually drove me to succeed. Interesting.

It's interesting because thinking about someone like you with a father who's one of the top investors in the world and your mom, who's a professional and a lawyer, you would think someone like you would be equipped not to have imposter syndrome. Did you ever have imposter syndrome professionally? I had two moments in my career where I think the word imposter syndrome, that wasn't really a term that was used because I've been in the. In the career. My career is over 30 years long now. But there was a moment when, at age 30, I was given the opportunity to run one of the business divisions at nasdaq. They reoriented the business into three divisions and they asked me to head one of them. I was a little shocked. I was super excited. But I also sat there and said to my boss, awesome, I can't wait. And then I went home to my husband. I was like, oh, my God, how am I going to do this? And then you have to sit down and say, okay, how am I going to do this? Who do I need to get around me? Who's really great at what they do and can help me, teach me and who I can learn from? And I think, though, that at that time I thought, okay, what do I know? Why did they choose me? You have to say they chose you for a reason. So what have you done successfully that they want you to continue that success? What do I need to learn? And who's the best person who's going to be able to teach me that or people? And once you kind of get a path, you find a path forward, the fear is gone, right? So. And then you just have to make sure that you're performing against that path. And a second time, I was running the data division, and Bob Greifeld, who was the CEO at the time, asked me to become the head of corporate strategy in addition to running the data business. And again, I'd never done a M and A deal in my life, so. And I was going to run M and A. And so I went to a trusted friend and I said, how is that? How exactly am I going to do this? And he just said, oh, Adina, it's just a bunch of PowerPoints. You'll be fine. But I did use that as a way to conquer. Conquer my fear. And by the time I became CEO, I honestly was very ready for the job. I was very ready. So one of the clear through lines so far in your story is a sense of competitiveness. Fair.

And where do you think that comes from? I definitely am a competitive. So, I mean, life is competitive. As humans, we are competitive, you know, and so therefore healthy competition keeping it in check, making sure you're. You're using it to drive you in a positive direction. Making sure it is a driver. Yeah, I think it's a wonderful thing. And I also think that if you only, though, focus on your competitors, you actually are not at all reaching your highest height. So I say to the team, and so, and I say this in life, like, you have to have a vision of where you want to go, have a strategy and how you're going to get there and engage your clients. They don't know exactly what you should be doing, but they do know what they need. And so how do you then parlay that need into a capability? And how do you focus on them? Then you look at your competitors, then you look left and right and you say, okay, well, what are those competitors doing that you might want to take and say, this is actually something I should be doing, or how can I make sure that I leave them in the dust? And I'm always staying ahead of them, but it's always in the context of a bigger vision and a bigger part of your life. I'm competitive, but I don't think it's maniacal.

So along those lines of driving, vision and strategy, talk to me a little bit about the difference. When you were running one of the corporate divisions versus a CEO, is it driving, vision, strategy, and maybe recruiting? How would you describe your three or four main goals and duties as a CEO? Taking it from the CEO perspective, the first thing is you really have to have a vision for where you want to go as a business. And that can be something that just comes solely from within you, or if you're not quite sure where you need to go, engage the team, have the right people in the right seats to help you define that vision. But whether you're bringing it to the table or you're getting it from the. From the team, once you have that vision, you have to get everyone on board. You know, so how do you make it so everyone relates to that vision and feels excited about it? And how do you, you know, kind of verbalize it in a way that motivates the team? The hard part, though, is executing against that vision. That's when you really got to roll those sleeves up and get engaged. You can't just assume the team's going to figure that out. You have to get engaged, establish a routine, establish a cadence of driving that vision forward and engaging everyone along the way so that everyone's coming with you instead of dragging people behind you.

Now, I learned all of those skills from running A business division, because within nasdaq, the division leaders do have a lot of autonomy, and certainly I grew up with a lot of autonomy. My first boss was awesome. To be like, here, here's a problem. Can you go solve it for me? Sure. I don't know how I'm going to solve this, but okay, I'll figure it out. And then I come back and say, here you go. He didn't sit there and tell me, Here are the 10 steps you need to take to solve this problem. Go. You just go figure it out. So I definitely had some good problem solving skills early. Then I was handed this data division. First time ever we had a business called Data. And so setting a vision for what that was and learning those skills was part of running the division. Then I ran corporate strategy, which at the time was actually more of an M and a job. I think Bob Greifeld was awesome and he created operational excellence. He really grew the business tremendously. His mantra was always, good execution beats a great strategy every day. And my view is, well, why not have both? So if you have that great strategy and then you drive good, good or great execution, then you can even go further. So let's take a beat on Bob Greifeld because he becomes, I think, arguably the key mentor of your career. I mean, so first of all, he was the most important mentor, slash sponsor that I had in my career.

And, you know, Bob was and is in my life. Like, I mean, you know, we've known each other now for 20 years. I worked for him for 11 of those years. I learned so much from him. He positioned me to be a winner. You know, he positioned me to grow and expand. He was always willing to give feedback. You know, he. What I actually really liked about him is he said, you know what you're good at? Let me talk to you about what you can get better at. And I love that. I mean, how was I going to learn if I just. If he just sits there and blows sunshine at my face? And what did he say you can get better at? The very first thing I remember I had just taken the head of strategy job and I was having to negotiate an acquisition. But my negotiating experience up until then had been as a participant in this industry consortium where I having to face off against all our competitors every single day and deal with a lot of contention. And so I was a very defensive negotiator. And I was like, don't hold the line. You know, that kind of orientation towards negotiation. And so he said, adina, you're good at Defense, but you got to start playing offense. Like, we got to actually get the deal done. You've got to find a path to the finish line. And so that was his first thing. It was so good. Great advice. Such good advice. And then the second one was when I became the cfo, and he said, this is the first time where you're not going to know everything. And so you're going to have to figure out, you know, how you're going to bring your team along and make sure that you know what you need to know, but that you're empowering your team. And so it was, you know, those were the types of things that he told me.

It's funny, Jason, what Adina just described is what she learned from mom and dad, but also a little bit of taekwondo. He's teaching you how to play offense and defense, right? Exactly. He was so good at cutting through the noise and seeing the things that mattered, and he was excellent at that. So I think that we were good partners because I would bring him, you know, and when we were working on deals, I would work through all of the details of how to get it done, and he would, though, always see the finish line, you know, so just. I think that we were very compatible. And then I learned a lot from him, and he positioned it so that when I became CEO, I was ready. You know, he had done everything perfectly to position me to be the CEO. Wow. Came in as president, and then he gave me the present COO job. He started just not being as many meetings, and, oh, Adina, you go figure that out. And, you know, just stepping back and stepping back. And so two and a half years after that journey started, you know, he's like, okay, you're ready. I had been at NASDAQ for 17 years. I had become the CFO. I was two years into being CFO, and I was very happy. And actually, a headhunter called me. Ah.

But at the time, you know, I'm working in New York, but my family. And we're in. We're in the Washington, D.C. area. So I live in the D.C. area, raise the kids in the D.C. area. And I was commuting up to New York every week, and. And they called and they said, there's this, you know, private equity firm. They're interested in finding a CFO to help them go public. And I said, well, which one is it? And they said, it's Carlyle. And Carlyle is the largest, most successful private equity firm in the Washington, D.C. area. It's a global brand. It's an Amazing firm with great leadership and of all of the jobs like, I had obviously gotten calls from a lot of headhunters over time, I think any executives do. This was the only time I'd actually returned the call to say, yeah, I actually would be willing to talk to them. But my calculus was it was time for me to prove myself somewhere else. Could I actually be a successful elsewhere? I needed to know that for myself. That competitiveness, I was going to say this competition, this is, this is running deep. I wanted to learn about the other side of the, of the financial world, you know, to get, become an investor. My father's an investor, my brother runs a hedge fund. So I really wanted to understand that side of the financial industry had an opportunity as CFO to take a company public, which is a unique opportunity and I could live and work in the same city. So, you know, it just was the opportunity that was just meant for me at that time.

So what's that conversation like to go and quit the only place you've ever worked? It was very hard. Bob was amazing at it. He was amazing. He didn't say, oh, please stay. He said, adina, this is a great opportunity for you. I think it's a great opportunity for you to learn and expand and good luck. You know, he was had in his mind that he was going to get you back. No. Really? I mean, I don't know. I guess, I don't know. I don't know. I did not have in my mind that I would come back. Really? No. When you make a decision like that, that's it. You've got to look at it. That's a ten year decision. Yeah. If you're going to commit to a company, you better be ready to commit for a long time. That role in particular. And I loved it. I mean, it was a really great opportunity. So when you think about a pivot like that, I mean it's like you're going from Red Sox to the Yankees, two great organizations. Right. But can you talk a little bit about the differences in culture, strategy, work ethic, all the stuff that we, that you have to deal with as a, you know, high level employee? That was what was so interesting. It was the cultural difference because I'd only worked in one place now while NASDAQ had had several iterations of its existence, it was very much a pretty singular culture, command and control culture, a lot of focus on the top decision makers. And Carlyle, I would call it a collaborative culture because it's a partnership. So you have a hundred partners in a firm and three founders. And of course there's a lot of decision making that happens with the three founders. But there's also a diffusion of decision making down and empowerment across 100 partners who are all owners in this business. And it's private company. So very different culture. And I have to say I like elements of both cultures. I think that in a company like Nasdaq, critical infrastructure provides provider to the financial industry and the economy. You have to make decisions fast and you have to make very concrete decisions. So command and control and that whole hierarchy, that whole ethos I think is actually an important part of the culture. But the collaboration comes from. I can't just sit in the top corner office and decide what to do.

I have to engage the team and make sure we're bringing people along. And while decision making can be slower, you ultimately through that debate, you get to hopefully a better decision. So I do think that we've been trying to infuse both of those back into nasdaq. So when it came back to Nasdaq, having had that experience, like, you know, we can do this a little differently, we can bring more opinions in the room but still move fast. And that's what we've been focused on. You know, given that we are here on the deal, you had been doing some deals obviously. So you had been in that M and a role at Nasdaq prior to Carlo. Do I have that timeline? So then you go into a business that the deal's the thing. I mean literally that is the business of that. What did you learn about deal making there that that maybe sort of elevated or accelerated that part of your resume or skill set. Yeah. Well, it was interesting because when you buy a company as a corporate, you have to have a forever thesis on that company that you're buying. Yeah. Meaning you're infusing it into your organization and you're becoming a different organization and you're going to carry yourself forward different.

When you're buying a deal as a private equity firm, it's all about the exit. So I'm coming in. What can I do over a very defined period of time to reshape this company? And what is my exit? That's what I learned. The most important thing in the investment committee process is their incredible focus on the exit as they're making the decision to enter. And that's a very different orientation, a very different way of thinking about driving value and return. But I also got very comfortable with this thesis of IRR and MOIC and these, these words that are you know, underpin the private equity world. And I was able to bring that back into nasdaq. So thinking about the deal, internal rate of return. Yes. Multiple of invested capital. Right. Sorry about that. Oh, my God. It's like going back to my private equity days. I was like, oh, do I have this? Because we mostly talk about, like, rbi. Anyway. Sorry. Yeah, no, that's. Right. Now, to translate that back into a corporate M and A, you. You think about, instead of multiple of invested capital, because that assumes an exit. You think about return on invested capital, and you think about the overall return that you're delivering over time, in addition to the strategic value you're creating. So that's the thesis within corporate M and A that's so different than pe is the strategic side.

All right, so you come back to nasdaq, and what is that decision? Like, what's in your head at that moment? By the time that Bob and I started talking about coming back to nasdaq, he was starting to think about succession, but, you know, he wasn't ready. But he was thinking about it, and he had offered to have me come back as president of nasdaq. So. Super compelling. Right. So I. I'd had a great experience at Carlyle, working with them to go public, helping them mature as a public company. And then he called, and I think that at the time, I realized I like being a cfo, but I like being a business owner better. I really love clients. I love working for them, I love working with them. I love defining the future. The pressure of the pnl, the competition, and. And having that as my everyday was really. I missed that a lot. Being a CFO is both being a risk manager and a risk taker simultaneously. Yeah. You know, I really enjoy being the risk taker with someone helping me manage the risk. This offense defense thing is really like a through line that you're through your whole career. I mean, you like that balance? I do. I really like the balance. And I have to say, I love the pressure of the P, and I love the pressure that the clients bring to you to make sure that you're always striving to be better. Right.

And so he offered the opportunity to run all of the business units except for the trading division. It was a really smart decision because trading is an amazing business, and it's a fascinating part of the business, but it's what I call. You can be a little bit of a rabbit hole. It's so fascinating, it's so intricate and it's. And it's all encompassing. But we had grown to do other things. And so how do we make sure that we're really honestly focusing our capital allocation and our decision making on driving the growth of the rest of the business. So he asked me to come in and be that person. And then about a year and a half in, then he asked if I would be the coo, which then meant encompassing all the businesses. So, and then a year after that, I became the CEO. But the decision was, again, I was running towards something. I always say to people as they're going through their career, don't run away from things, run towards them. So if you're unhappy where you are, don't just take the first thing that comes along. Really focus on what's going to make you happy, what's going to get you excited, what's to get up every day and find that before you, before you just jump ship. And I was very happy where I was at Carlyle. But this was an opportunity to do something that I'd always wanted to be able to do and to have the opportunity ultimately to be the CEO. And at that moment, I knew that that was an opportunity. Yeah.

So for someone that hasn't really been in business or doesn't understand what NASDAQ does, how does unlamous terms, how does NASDAQ make money? So we have three divisions within nasdaq. We have our markets division, which is trading. So we make money as an exchange operator. We take a tiny little bit of every, every share traded or every option contract traded, and that's. That makes actually generates about a billion dollars of revenue a year somewhere in that range. And then we have a lot of services. We offer corporates who list on NASDAQ and investors who invest, you know, in the capital markets generally. We have the listings business and then a whole suite of capabilities that help the corporates have better relationships with investors like IR and governance. So those are kind of part of our transparency suite in our capital access platforms business. And then on the flip side with investors, we help them make smarter asset allocation decisions. And then we create investable products through our index business. So that whole collection of capabilities is about 1. It was pro forma for 23, about $1.8 billion. And then the third part of our business is our fintech division, which is where we provide a whole suite of software that really power the capital markets around the world and provide a complete suite of risk management technology to broker dealers and banks. And that's about a billion and a half dollars of revenue. Wow. And that's really software.

And so you come back and it seems like that part of what you do as the CEO, you start to be a bit more aggressive in terms of, all right, how do we build this and grow this faster? Is that a fair assessment? We were actually pretty aggressive in M and A under Bob's tenure, but I did take a different tack to it. So I kind of came back and I said, okay, we are operationally excellent and we have this amazing foundational exchange business with a suite of services around it. When I went out to talk to the clients, let's hear from the clients. Because everything I just mentioned to you, we didn't have all of that when I came back. So we were a niche provider of software to portions of the broker dealer community and the exchange community. We had capabilities offering to the corporates, some of which were highly strategic, some of which were not. And we didn't actually have a deep relationship with the investment community. So we sat down and said, okay, what do we want to become in the next 10 years? What are the technology trends that are going to drive our industry forward in the next 10 years and where are our clients? What are the trends that are driving our client needs over the next 10 years? And if we look at that and we say, okay then, therefore, what do we need to become as a provider of capabilities in order to be able to meet our vision? We are a technology company that's serving the world's financial system. We want to be the trusted fabric to the world's financial system.

And when you are talking about clients, you're talking about the big financial institutions mostly in this case or not. We actually, we look at as corporates, investment managers and then the banks, brokers and FMIs. FMIs are financial market intermediaries, like exchanges. I'm an acronym, we're nailing these acronyms. I love it. So anyway, so it's really kind of those three concepts. And so we actually undertook a strategy to say, if we are a technology company, how are we going to drive ourselves as a technology company? We're going to rewrite our software and modernize our tech and we're going to embrace cloud. And we have done that. We have taken all of our solutions to cloud. We're going to be an agile technology development organization. So we're going to bring agile and propagate that across the whole company. We're going to start to measure ourselves in what I'll call technology oriented measures. KPIs and measurements like annualized recurring revenue, one of those. And we want to make sure though we're doing all of that in the context of delivering critical systems to our clients in ways that are unique and better than anyone else. In the process of doing that, what I found when I got back to NASDAQ is great foundation, critical infrastructure, very good operational excellence. But we wanted to drive, I would say, more of an innovative growth spirit into the organization. So we start, actually, we had to focus first on organic growth. How do we get that organic growth engine going? How do we think more deeply about our clients and our capabilities? How do we modernize what we're doing for them and get that engine going really well? Then we can start to think about what does that mean in terms of how we can expand our sales for M and A. So we kind of took it a little bit of a different tech sense. And, I mean, I think one of the things that is most fascinating to me, again, in the construct of the deal, is your business is deals.

I mean, yes, you're. You're doing a lot of things with clients and the fabric of the financial system, etc. But I would bet that most people listening or watching, they know the NASDAQ is like, oh, it's traded on the Nasdaq, you know, or they've walked through Times Square and they've been like, whoa, okay, Nasdaq. Or they've seen people, you know, ringing the opening or closing bell. What's fascinating to me and Alex and I have talked about this is you are often present for one of the most meaningful moments in a company's life, one of the most, you know, catalytic moments. Tell us about that and sort of how NASDAQ sort of fits into that narrative for a company. Well, it is the most amazing part of our business to be able to be there and to help define the best moment or the most important moment in a company's life. You know, it's just this amazing thing like who gets to have that, you know, and. And you realize every day, practically every day, you know, you have this great opportunity to watch a company transform and help them transform, and then have this moment when you get to celebrate that transformation. And then when I go to their offices, years later, I still see the picture from the market site on their desk or on their wall or in their employee book or whatever it is. It is like this defining moment in their history and their lives, both personal lives and professional lives, and we get to be a part of that. And it's pretty amazing. And that part of the business is this forever opportunity. Like, that part of the business is constant deals as you said, it's a constant flow of deals and it defines our brand. Yeah, you know, we've got the most innovative companies in the world listed on Nasdaq. So everyone therefore looks to us and says, you're an innovator. So we get that great halo. We decided we have to be an innovator. Like, if we have the halo, let's be an innovator. And that's what actually I used to drive the business forward and really get that innovation engine going.

Inside of Nasdaq, we also get to work with all these great companies. They're listed on Nasdaq, so we have these deep relationships and we get to work with, you know, the AWS's and the Microsofts and the Googles and the Nvidias and the Intels of the world. Like, we have this incredible ability to bring them in as partners and work and they help us. So when I think about Nasdaq, it sounds like you're there to celebrate a championship almost daily for these companies. I mean, this is their championship. Right. And talking about championships, the Atlanta Braves. Yeah, Braves. Fascinating team. Great, great front office. They built an incredible compound around that stadium. Talk to us about that process and how rewarding was it to see the Braves not only go public, but we continue to be very successful, enlisted on the Nasdaq and they're listed on the Nasdaq. We were so excited when Liberty Media decided to basically take that company and that business public and list it on Nasdaq because of course, we had the chance then to use all of our facilities in Times Square to have this great moment for the Braves franchise, for Liberty Media and everyone. But what's really cool about having a sports team be public is that it allows the team to engage the fans in a totally different way. The fans have an opportunity to become owners in a company that is their team. And so it's been fascinating. And I think that first of all, it's an incredibly well run organization. As you said, it has a real estate arm to it too. So there's a whole development that goes around the stadium that's important to the franchise value. And you also have this. I mean, it's one of the best performing teams, you know, in sports and recognizable brands and recognizable brands and, and they've done a fantastic job of driving the brand. So to have this great team choose to do it like a team in a position of strength to say, you know what, we're going to make our stock available to everyone is just fantastic.

I think it does change the notion of what teams can become as value creators and investable assets. And so it's really cool. So let's dig into that because, I mean, it is a seminal moment. I mean, I'm sitting here next to a sports team owner who knows a lot about, you know, what it means to own a team, what the opportunities for value are within, you know, within sports ownership. As you've said, a lot of your job is looking around the corner to see where this is going. Where is this going? Where is this going when it comes to sports? Well, we've run focused, very focused on what I call the sports economy. And we've talked about this, this intersection of entertainment. Right. Culture and sports. And sports is a huge business. And it's not just the teams. It's everything around the teams. It's. It's the merchandise, of course, the team values all the entertainment that comes from sports. And then on top of that, you also have sports betting, you know, like a whole new industry that's kind of popped up on the back of sports and become a really big business. And the media component and all the media. So I look at it as. Watch the effect that drive to survive had on viewership of F1 in the United States, you know, or all or nothing. The Amazon prime show on the Premier League and then Barclays sponsoring the Premier League into onto TV every Saturday. Trust me, I wake up every Saturday and listen to the roaring of the Premier League crowd. Hotspurs, is that. Yes, the Tottenham Hotspur. Yeah. And so. So the, the ability to bring it into the living room, to make it so that it's not just the team that you're following, but, you know, athletes, they become human. They. You have this. And social media, of course, has had a huge impact on this too. They become humanized and you want to be them and you want to learn their routines, understanding what it really takes to be that elite athlete. And it makes it so much more accessible. Well, that's the entertainment side or the media side of it that has blown up the value, the franchise values of these teams and these organizations.

What that means though, is that individuals are going to have a really hard time being the owners of these teams going forward. Like, meaning a single person as an owner of a team with the franchise values getting as big as they are is harder and harder. So you're starting to see more professional investors coming in, starting with private equity and that type of ownership base, but also public equity, you know, you're starting to see the opportunity. You have a tracking stock in F1 listed on NASDAQ through Liberty Media too. And so you have all these opportunities now to be engaged in sports in new ways. Play that out. Like what, what does that mean for the future of sports? We know you a little bit, you're a sports fan, you know, you engage just like we do with your favorite teams, as we do with ours. Like how does that fundamentally change the business? You see what happens when, when companies go public. So what's going to happen here in your estimation? Yeah, so first of all, I think it'll create this massive escalation of value. And because the more you get people engaged in different ways with a franchise, as we saw even just with sports betting, the more you get engaged, the more value that's created for the franchise. Right. So it's not just seats, it's all the merchandise, it's the TV rights, it's the globalization, it's all the media that comes around it and the licensing values that come. And so if you have new ways to engage and now as an owner, the potential for you to be an owner of a team like, like Green Bay packers, you know, the fans are own, it's not public, but that changes the relationship that the fans have with the team. So then it just feeds on itself. And I think it becomes this what I call virtuous cycle. And I think now you're seeing women's sports coming in too. And you know, women's sports, I say that we've gone from having a moment to having a movement in women's sports. You know, I think in the last few years they finally had a moment of everyone realizing it's a great product, it's a great viewer experience. And now they have this movement of being able to escalate franchise values using social media and broad based media, using ownership as a way to engage people in new ways. So I think that if I were to roll the roll things forward 10 years, I think you're going to see teams in multiple sports being public. I think certainly you're going to see maybe even a changes in the structures of these leagues and organizations to make it so it unlocks more value and it brings more professional people into the mix and maybe different ownership bases. Like, you know, there are certain member owned organizations still there. We used to be a member owned organization. It was definitely not something that maximized value. And then I also think you're going to get more and more people around the world engaged in sports and that, I think that's the one thing that's bringing us together. If money Wasn't an issue. You had all the money in the world and you can be a general partner to one team and one team only, here or around the world. What team would that be? Well, I have to pick my favorite team, which is the Commanders. Washington Commanders. Josh Harris. That'll be 12 billion. Yeah, I mean, I mean, we moved to Washington out of my husband. I moved to Washington out of school, specifically because they were called the Redskins at the time, but specifically because we wanted to be season ticket holders for the rest. No kidding. I think like us, you look at sports through a business lens. I mean, not just as a potential listing, but help us understand you've talked a little bit about this, but like, as you think of the Commanders or what's happening in Major League Baseball or what's happening in the, in the Premier League, like when your business brain kicks in. Yeah. Like, what are you seeing there that can help explain what we're seeing right now? Well, first of all, it's funny that you say that because every time I watch any game, I look at all the advertising, right? And it drives my kids crazy. Like, just focus on the game, Mom. I'm like, yeah, but look at that sponsorship. Why do you think they sponsored? So I do actually think about the business of sports all the time. You know, when I think about the business, sports, and we could take maybe the Commanders, I mean, you've got this. What I think is an undervalued asset. Yes, they bought it for a lot of money, but it's an asset that if they invest in it, they're going to be able to create a lot of value.

Right? And you've got the stadium, you've got the actual team itself that you have to focus on making it the best team in the sport. You have all the merchandise that that virtuous cycle then drives merchandise sales. It drives licenses, you know, media licenses. It might get an interest from a show that wants to do a, you know, a feature on you. It drives the athletes get more value out of that. And then ultimately the fan base just gets a better, more complete experience that then draws them in and makes them bigger fans. And then they buy more merchandise and then they go to more games and they watch more of the shows and they want. And it just creates this incredible virtuous flywheel that I think in, you know, we're just seeing the beginning of it. Right. Because these teams in these leagues have gone from being really super private individual owned to starting to bring professional money in with a return orientation, an investment orientation, a real Estate orientation, you know, a licensing orientation. And it's just. I think it's going to change. I think it's going to continue to change and evolve in a great way. What would be your team? My team general partner leaving Bloomberg. I mean, I would buy. I would actually buy a women's sports team right now. Which one? You wouldn't buy the Liberty?

Probably Vegas, because he wants to go to Vegas. Well, what's interesting is Liberty, I mean, Liberty is one of the. Is one of the highest valued teams at this point. I mean, I might go in for an expansion team. Okay. Oh, that's a great idea. Buy an expansion team. That's like a valid creator, right? Exactly. Yeah. And so you're a builder. You're a builder, right? Yeah. Well, I mean, also, I mean, if you. If you think about. I mean, the numbers in the NWSL are fascinating, right? So Willoughby and Bob Iger are friends. Like, they just, you know, bought Angel City. They did. $250 million valuation, highest valuation ever paid for a women's sports franchise globally. But what was it worth just a few years ago? Two. Two million. Two million. It went from 2 million to 250 million. Right. But that's what I mean is that with women's sports, it's gone from having a moment to being a movement. Right. And you're seeing these franchise values, really, but they're still so. Right. They're still affordable at the individual level, at the. You. At the super wealthy. Right. But you know, you're still able to shape an entire league right now. Right. So you're a builder. I like that. Yeah. Well, and also, I mean, you see it with the Lynx and the WNBA and you know, what's happening there in terms of like an explosion of value, given more media exposure, fans, engaging. It is a movement and it is moving fast. And what's underpinning it is a great product. I mean, when you go to a women's basketball game, it's a great game.

And I mean, I watched every. The NCAA tournament, like, was on our TV entire time. The women's NCW tournament was on more than the men's was in March. And actually the women's Olympic basketball, we watched that as much as, if not more than we watched the men. And just because it's a really great product. Now, one woman told me recently, I hadn't thought about this. Title 9 was created essentially 50 years ago or somewhere, like right around when I was little. And. But we've had 50 years of investment in women's sports now where women have grown up and getting better and better coaching, more resources, more focus. And so now you've got this flywheel effect of having all these great athletes coming out of college and coming out of high school and college, but that machinery had to take some time to turn on. It's on. So now you've got. And we have globally, look at the Women's World cup, we actually have competition around the world. So you've got these amazing products, and now you've got really interesting owners coming in. You've got media coming in. And I think that it's. That virtuous flywheel is just getting started. You recently gathered a group around women's sports at the NASDAQ to sort of dig into this. I mean, that. That feels almost like venture investing to say, you know, like you're. You're trying to get. To get in early.

How and why do you do that sort of thing? Like, what's the business case there? Yeah, no, it's a great question. So the listings business is a relationship business. Yeah. And it is. While it ultimately ends up in a transaction of someone going public, you know, it all is underpinned by trust and relationships. So I think that we work very hard to develop relationships with companies very early in their life, with industries as they're coming up. So with sports, you know, we are seeing this as like, we're on the cusp of a different era of sports as a business. Right. And so we're engaging with every element of the sport sports economy, including women in sports. That dinner wasn't just about women's sports, but it was about women in sports, women who are interesting. So we had executives from men's leagues and women's leagues and agents, and it was in teams and everything else to come together and say, okay, what can we do to really continue to elevate that product? And so how do we make it so that that virtuous cycle gets accelerated, but then also just getting people connected, getting us to have relationships with. With women executives in men's sports as well. Right? Well, because, I mean, I think it's fair to say that throughout your career, you know this as an investor as well. I mean, part of this is very basic access to capital. Right. I mean, and that you have that. Exactly. I look at everything through a business lens. So this. These are amazing businesses. So how do we get them better access to capital to grow and expand? How do you get more parts of the ecosystem engaged? And access to capital is the. The driver of every economy. And these are Very entrepreneurial companies, by the way. And so also seeing themselves not as a league or a team, but as a company. It's an entrepreneurial company. So helping them engage and learn from each other is also another thing we like to do. I mean, let's be honest. Enlightened self interest. Right. You want them to list on the NASDAQ subject, we always say it's long term, lead gen. Right. Long term. That's good. That's good.

All right, so this is. We're going to move to the lightning round now. Okay. So we got to keep it tight. We're going to go through and we'll just bounce back and forth. All right. What's one word to describe your deal making? Style? Persistent. What's more important? Instincts or data? Data. What's the hardest part of deal making? The beginning, the middle or the close? Definitely the close. What's the best piece of advice you've ever received on a deal or a business is making sure that you're focusing on the close. Like, how do you get to the close? You got to focus on how to get to the close. I remember Henry Kravis once said, don't congratulate me when I buy a company. Congratulate me when I sell it. See, it's all about the exit. Yeah. For them, not for us. Right. What's the worst advice you've ever been given? I think that I did get advice once that you have to always balance price and strategy. Can I say it that way? But the worst advice was don't worry about the price. You'll figure that out later. You've got to focus on price and strategy. Right. You got to look at the financials and the strategic set. All right, so what's your hype song before you go into a big meeting or negotiation? Well, I really. I have a couple, but I listen to an. Actually a playlist, a girls anthem playlist. And so it's all about, like, pump me up songs from women. Give me one artist that's in that list. One artist. Oh, gosh. Well, Beyonce is in that list for sure. If you can only watch one sport for the rest of your life. Only one. What is it? Football. Football. Sorry, Alex. I think this one's going to be easy. What team do you want to see win the championship more than anything? Definitely the commanders. Do you have a fun fact about yourself that your colleagues would be surprised to hear? Some people know this, but not everyone. But when I was in college, I learned how to fly. Yeah. Why?

I really want for a while I wanted to be a fighter pilot until I found out that at the time when I was growing up, women weren't able to be fighter pilots. So. But I. But I decided that I really loved. If I could be any animal, I would be a bird. Let me just say it that way. So I, you know, I love being able to look down and see the world from up above. Well, this has been really fun for us. Thank you so much for spending some time being so candid and thoughtful. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

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