Reuters and the Wall Street Journal both have coverage of Senator Schumer's press conference about the proposed merger between Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext. Reuters: "Schumer told reporters he met with NYSE Euronext Chief Executive Duncan Niederauer -- who would lead the combined entity -- on Friday and again on Saturday." The Journal says Mr. Schumer, "liked the fact that Mr. Niederauer would remain CEO," but is insisting that NYSE come first in the name of the new entity.
Neither news organization asks why Mr. Schumer rather than the owners of the company should be deciding its name or who will manage it, or why a top executive would be spending his time meeting twice with the senator rather than working on closing the deal and planning for the merged company.
Mr. Schumer has a history of this: he got involved when Dubai tried to buy some of NASDAQ and also when Dubai Ports tried to buy some American ports. It would seem to me that Mr. Schumer would be busy enough trying to keep a Democratic majority in the Senate and get the federal budget back on track without assigning himself the additional responsibility of managing and branding the New York Stock Exchange of German Stock Exchange or whatever they are going to call it and without also assigning himself the additional responsibility of passing judgment on all major foreign investments in American businesses. But I certainly wouldn't want to underestimate his energy or his capabilities.
