Quote:
Originally Posted by left of center
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We were very close to having both exchanges bought out by out of town/country interests. ...
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I don't think we were as close as you portray it. Locals had pretty much zero intent in allowing Chicago's trading history to be allowed to just disappear, but they had zero to gain by boastfully telegraphing their intent to maintain local control and potentially draw in additional bidders (locals with influence or not, the underlying exchanges as corporate entities did have a certain fiduciary duty to entertain dramatically different offers if they had materialized).
So the local money worked their influence, boosted heavy on civic pride, dissed the viability of a megaexchange to scare off other suitors, and waited for their moment. Trying to move even just the management of Chicago's exchanges would have been very difficult because I think many locals stay in Chicago because they love Chicago and consider their role here to be penultimate in the industry. If some London or NY exchange, maybe they could cherry pick the best from Chicago and pull them back to those cities. But some place from Frankfurt? Atlanta? Are you kidding me? No top exchange exec from Chicago was going to relocate to a second-tier city to serve a new master who didn't grow up on the South Side.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Randomguy34
If Fulton Market ever gets a massive tech HQ, it will literally become the Loop equivalent for the tech industry
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Only if it's as big as Amazon. Anything less and it still won't have the gravity to be a "Tech Loop." Plus, "The Loop" is what it is exclusively due to transportation. Until Chicago gets serious about extending our mass transportation with real, grade-separated rail, nothing will ever even partially compare to the Loop.