Microsoft and LSEG will collaborate to create new tools for business cooperation. This came after Microsoft bought stake in the London Stock Exchange.
On Monday, Microsoft, a major player in American technology, announced a 10-year agreement with the London Stock Exchange Group and acquired a nearly 4% ownership in the company that runs the U.K. exchange.
According to a statement by the LSEG, the relationship includes cloud computing technologies as well as next-generation data and analytics. It features analytics and modeling solutions using Microsoft Azure, AI, and Microsoft Teams as well as a new data infrastructure for the London Exchange.
On Monday, LSEG’s stock rose 4% in Europe.
“This strategic partnership is a significant milestone on LSEG’s journey towards becoming the leading global financial markets infrastructure and data business, and will transform the experience for our customers,” David Schwimmer, CEO of LSEG, said in the statement.
Microsoft will pay the Blackstone/Thomson Reuters Consortium for a roughly 4% share in the British company.
As a result of the agreement, multiple Microsoft products will be employed throughout several LSEG business units. The data platform for the stock exchange as well as other crucial technological infrastructure will be moved into Microsoft’s cloud, which is based on Azure, its huge public cloud offering.
With Microsoft, LSEG has a contractual commitment to spend a minimum of $2.8 billion over a ten-year period on cloud-related products.
This is “consistent with existing long-term” spending commitments, according to the stock exchange.
Microsoft and LSEG will collaborate to create new tools for business cooperation. Workspace is a data and analytics platform that LSEG has created. The two businesses will collaborate to develop this product and include it into Microsoft Teams, the company’s messaging platform.
In accordance with the release, Scott Guthrie, Microsoft’s executive vice president for Cloud and AI Group, will join LSEG as a non-executive director.
Satya Nadella, the chairman and CEO of 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.”
In 2019, the London Stock Exchange committed to purchase financial information company Refinitiv in a $27 billion deal.
Prior to this, in order to handle its cloud needs, the Pentagon modified its strategy last year and solicited bids from Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle. Now, Google, Oracle, Amazon and Microsoft are all set to work for Pentagon in a $9 billion deal.