📈 pLSE list in London.

LSE to create a market for shares of private companies

One afternoon back in my accounting days, a partner walked over to our desks and yelled at my colleague for something or other. My colleague began to cry. Seeing what he had done, the partner returned 30 minutes later with a $50 note which he handed to my colleague for ‘after work drinks.’ If the new Goldman Sachs lawsuit is anything to go by, perhaps she should have held out for more. An employee is suing the bank for £1 million over claims including meetings that were characterized by ‘high emotion, often tears.’ Think of how many after work drinks he will be able to buy if successful.

The lowdown

Featured story

Not pictured: London Stock Exchange CEO who is also named David Schwimmer. Credit: NBC.

LSE to create a market for shares of private companies

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is planning to introduce an "intermittent trading venue" to facilitate the sale of shares by founders, investors, and employees of private companies.

The proposed mechanism would have private companies share information with prospective investors through a secured portal. This would give companies control over the type of participating investors, as well as setting pricing and volume caps. The LSE would conduct 12 of these auctions annually.

While LSE says its motive is innovation, some believe the venue might help private companies to familiarize themselves with the public listing process ($), build a rapport with the exchange and perhaps bring an end to the LSE’s growing reputation as an exchange unsuitable for tech stocks.

The content we're consuming today

Off-balance sheet items

  • We’ve all seen the (kind of hilarious) images of the chaos that is Burning Man this year. You probably have some idea of what the festival is all about but this article goes a little deeper ($).

The bottom line