Nasdaq's Greifeld Outlines Refocused Business Mission Following Strategic Review - Nasdaq Europe Closed - Pulls Out Of NQLX

The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. (NASDAQ®), the world's largest electronic stock market, today outlined the results of a strategic review of its business initiatives, products and services.

"NASDAQ is the best market in the world for investors and our mission is to focus first on being the predominant U.S. equities market," said Robert Greifeld, President and CEO of NASDAQ. "NASDAQ will achieve this mission by concentrating its resources and intellectual capital on three key areas: capturing an even greater share of IPOs; capturing a larger share of trading volume, independent of where a company is listed; and attracting listings from other exchanges. Among the tactics used to accomplish this will be expanding our sales presence and continually enhancing our system functionality."

Chief among the results of the business review is the decision to support the closing of the market operated by NASDAQ Europe, a pan-European stock market located in Belgium in which NASDAQ has a majority stake. At an Extraordinary General Meeting held earlier today, the shareholders of NASDAQ Europe voted to discontinue operations of the market. As a result, an orderly wind down of market operations will take place and will be conducted pursuant to a Transition Plan to be agreed with the Belgian Banking and Finance Commission. Completion is expected no later than January 5, 2004.

Other initiatives NASDAQ plans to discontinue are:

• The Bulletin Board Exchange (BBX) - BBX was a proposed listing platform for companies not eligible for listing on the NASDAQ SmallCap Market to raise equity capital and increase the visibility of their stock. The Over the Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB) will continue its existing operations.
• NQLX - NQLX is a joint venture with the London International Financial Futures Exchange (LIFFE) to create a market for single stock futures and other futures products. NASDAQ has agreed that it will forgo its stake in the joint venture and transfer its ownership interest to LIFFE, which will assume financial and management responsibility for the business. It is not expected that this change will have any impact on the operation of NQLX. Usage of the NASDAQ brand by the company will cease.
• Liquidity Tracker - Liquidity Tracker is an automated order routing system designed to allow traders to direct orders to specific market makers based on recent trading activity. Liquidity Tracker will cease operation on July 1, 2003.
• NASDAQ Tools - NASDAQ Tools is an order management system, which runs on the NASDAQ Application Programming Interface (API) using the NASDAQ Workstation II (NWII).

As a result of these changes, NASDAQ will eliminate approximately 80 positions. NASDAQ is in the process of calculating charges associated with the discontinuation of these products and NASDAQ anticipates reporting such information as part of its second quarter 2003 earnings announcement.

"We will focus only on products, services and initiatives that help us achieve our goals of delivering a better solution to investors, market participants and listed companies. Ultimately this supports NASDAQ's key role in driving U.S. economic growth and competitiveness," continued Mr. Greifeld.

NASDAQ is the world's largest electronic stock market. With approximately 3,500 companies, NASDAQ lists more companies and trades more shares per day, on average, than any other U.S. market. It is home to category-defining companies that are leaders across all areas of business including technology, retail, communications, financial services, media and biotechnology industries. For more information about NASDAQ, visit the NASDAQ Web site at www.NASDAQ.com or the NASDAQ NewsroomSM at www.NASDAQNews.com.