KCG Holdings

KCG Holdings
Public
Traded as NYSE: KCG
Industry Financial Services
Founded 2013 from merger of Knight Capital Group and Getco LLC
Headquarters Jersey City, New Jersey, USA
Key people
 Daniel Coleman, Chief Executive Officer
Products Market making and trading
Revenue Increase US$ 1.316 billion (2014)[1]
Decrease US$ 61.1 million (2014)[1]
Total assets Decrease US$ 6.830 billion (2014)[1]
Total equity Increase US$ 1.522 billion (2014)[1]
Number of employees
 1,093 (2014)[1]
Website www.kcg.com

KCG Holdings, Inc. is an American global financial services firm engaging in market making, high-frequency trading, electronic execution, and institutional sales and trading.[2] The company was formed July 1, 2013 at the completion of the previously announced merger whereby Knight Capital Group, Inc. and GETCO Holding Company, LLC were combined.[3]

History

Getco LLC was founded in 1999[4] by Stephen Schuler and Daniel Tierney, former floor traders in Chicago, and had 400 employees at the time of the merger. The firm's primary business was electronic market making/high-frequency trading, though it also provided execution algorithms and a dark pool through its client services arm, Getco Execution Services.

Knight Capital Group was founded in 1995[5] as Knight/Trimark Group and had about 1400 employees at the time of the merger. Its largest business was market-making in US equities for retail brokerages, though it also provided other services such as electronic execution, dark pools, plus institutional sales and trading. In August 2012 a technological/managerial "breakdown" caused Knight to lose $460m, nearly putting the firm out of business.[6] In December 2012, it agreed to be acquired by Getco LLC. The merger was approved by the respective stockholders and unitholders of both companies on June 25, 2013.[3]

On July 8, 2013, Chief Executive Officer Daniel Coleman rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, marking the completion of Knight and Getco's merger and the unveiling of a new corporate identity, KCG Holdings.[7]

In January 2015, KCG Holdings announced it would be selling its foreign exchange trading platform KCG Hotspot to BATS Global Markets for $365 million.[8]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "KCG - Press Release". KCG Holdings, Inc.
  2. ↑ "About Us | KCG". Retrieved 2013-07-10.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Knight Capital Group And GETCO Complete Merger". news.kcg.com. KCG Holdings.
  4. ↑ Marek, Lynne (3 July 2013). "KCG taps former Getco CEO Schuler". Chicago Business.
  5. ↑ "History". KCG Holdings.
  6. ↑ October 23, 2013, Register, "Lone Sysadmin triggers 462 Million dollar crash"
  7. ↑ NYSE Press Release, July 03, 2013
  8. ↑ "Deals of the day- Mergers and acquisitions". Reuters. Retrieved 2015-02-02.

External links