Microsoft takes stake in London Stock Exchange Group in data deal

LSEG offers financial markets infrastructure and data and analytics, news and index products globally. It employs 23,000 people in 70 countries.

Through the deal, LSEG’s technology infrastructure and data analytics platforms will move on to the Microsoft Azure cloud. 

Microsoft and LSEG will also jointly develop new products and services for data and analytics. 

Microsoft has agreed to purchase shares in LSEG that would result in Microsoft holding approximately a 4% equity stake in LSEG.

Microsoft aims to create a centralised financial data platform through the move, opening up new monetisation opportunities in the financial services ecosystem, and said the partnership would offer financial customers the ability ‘to generate more sophisticated and timely insights’. 

David Schwimmer, chief executive of LSEG, said: “Bringing together our leading data sets, analytics, and global customer base with Microsoft’s comprehensive and trusted cloud services and global reach creates attractive revenue growth opportunities for both companies.”

Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive, Microsoft, said: “Advances in the cloud and AI will fundamentally transform how financial institutions research, interact, and transact across asset classes, and adapt to changing market conditions.

“Our partnership will bring together the industry leadership of the London Stock Exchange Group with the trust and breadth of the Microsoft Cloud — spanning Azure, AI, and Teams — to build next-generation services that will empower our customers to generate business insights, automate complex and time-consuming processes, and ultimately, do more with less.”