Nasdaq To Transfer OTCBB Business To The NASD

The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) announced today that it plans to enter into an agreement to transfer the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board® (OTCBB) business and the trade reporting of all other Over-the-Counter (OTC) securities to NASD. The transfer is subject to approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the signing of a definitive agreement, and other necessary approvals. This development is designed to facilitate corporate structure changes related to NASDAQ achieving exchange status. It is not expected to have a material impact on NASDAQ’s operating results.

NASDAQ and NASD have structured this transfer of the businesses to be seamless to the customers of the OTCBB and OTC trade reporting businesses. NASDAQ will continue to provide the technology and connectivity used to carry out the day-to-day functions of the OTCBB and OTC trade reporting while the OTCBB business will be owned, managed and continue to be regulated by NASD.

The OTCBB will continue to be accessed through the existing channels: the NASDAQ Workstation II® and application programming interface (API) (both available until October 31, 2005), the computer-to-computer interface (CTCI), and through NASDAQ’s new offerings in 2005, QIX, NASDAQ’s proprietary connectivity protocol, and the new NASDAQ Workstation. OTCBB market data will also continue to be offered through the Bulletin Board Dissemination Service^SM (BBDS^SM) and the NASDAQ Trade Data Dissemination Service^SM (TDDS^SM).