NASD Board Continues Progress Toward Recapitalization of Then Nasdaq Stock Market

The National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (NASD®), announced that its Board of Governors met today and continued its consideration of restructuring The Nasdaq Stock Market® . NASD Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frank G. Zarb said, "Today's meeting was another step in a year-long process that we have undertaken to 'reinvent' Nasdaq® . As we have emphasized all along, we have not set a rigid time schedule. We'll discuss this issue as long as it takes to thoughtfully and thoroughly develop the ideas that work best to make Nasdaq stronger for the benefit of investors, issuers, and members." Zarb continued, "We have been working with our members and market participants to define the most workable structure. We expect to present a definitive proposal for consideration to both our board-level Review Committee and, ultimately, the NASD Board sometime in the next few months. Again, this is a very deliberative process. We have no plan to announce or discuss the specifics of any transaction until our work is complete and it has been considered and approved by the Review Committee and the NASD Board of Governors." The National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. , is the largest securities-industry, self-regulatory organization in the United States. It is the parent organization of The Nasdaq-Amex Market Group, Inc., and NASD Regulation, Inc. Through The Nasdaq-Amex Market GroupSM, the NASD operates The Nasdaq Stock Market and the American Stock Exchange® . Through its regulatory subsidiary, the NASD develops rules and regulations, provides a dispute resolution forum, and conducts regulatory reviews of member activities for the protection and benefit of investors. The NASD oversees the nation's 5,600 brokerage firms and more than 600,000 registered brokers. For more information about the NASD and its subsidiaries, please visit the following Web sites: www.nasd.com; www.nasdaq.com; www.amex.com; www.nasdr.com; or the Nasdaq-Amex NewsroomSM at www.nasdaq-amexnews.com.