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SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) -- Citigroup Inc. is in advanced talks to buy Automated Trading Desk, an electronic trading firm, for about $700 million, in a further push by the banking giant into the trading of stocks by computerized programs rather than by people, according to a media report Tuesday.
Citigroup's (C) purchase of the Mount Pleasant, S.C., firm could be announced this week, though details of the deal could still change, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.
Automated Trading Desk was founded in 1988 by two computer programmers and Rutgers University finance professor David Whitcomb, The Journal said.
Using computer algorithms instead of traders, the company, led by Chief Executive Steve Swanson, makes razor-thin profit by buying and selling rapidly for itself and on behalf of clients, according to the report. Employing only about 100 people, it handled about 6% of the trading volume in major U.S. stock markets last year, sometimes accounting for 200 million of shares traded per day, the Journal said.
Citigroup is trying to increase its market share in trading U.S. stocks while bringing under its roof computer programs that could improve its efforts to trade stocks overseas, the Journal said.
UPDATE: Citigroup In Talks To Buy Automated Trading Desk
Citigroup's (C) purchase of the Mount Pleasant, S.C., firm could be announced this week, though details of the deal could still change, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.
Automated Trading Desk was founded in 1988 by two computer programmers and Rutgers University finance professor David Whitcomb, The Journal said.
Using computer algorithms instead of traders, the company, led by Chief Executive Steve Swanson, makes razor-thin profit by buying and selling rapidly for itself and on behalf of clients, according to the report. Employing only about 100 people, it handled about 6% of the trading volume in major U.S. stock markets last year, sometimes accounting for 200 million of shares traded per day, the Journal said.
Citigroup is trying to increase its market share in trading U.S. stocks while bringing under its roof computer programs that could improve its efforts to trade stocks overseas, the Journal said.
UPDATE: Citigroup In Talks To Buy Automated Trading Desk