August 2019: The More Things Change

A magazine is a look back in time, even when the stories look ahead. It allows us to take our time. Hopefully it allows us to preserve time, even if just for a brief moment in time. Through it, we can tell stories, whether of individuals, of events in the past, or of previews of things to come. Yes, magazines are beautiful things that I love with all my heart. Sadly, glossy print magazines are disappearing into the web. I would imagine that one day, WatersTechnology will no longer be in print, as well. Time, indeed, changes all things.

I mention the concept of time because we ran out of it. As the August issue of WatersTechnology was about to go to the printers, news broke that the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) had made a bid to buy Refinitiv for $27 billion. In the pages of the magazine, the only thing that you’ll read about Refinitiv is how they won the best low-latency data feed provider in this year’s Waters Rankings. 

Now, while this here column originally ran in the mag, you can find our coverage of the deal here: “LSEG’s Proposed Refinitiv Deal: It’s About More Than Just Market Data”, which describes what this potential merger might mean for clients of the two companies and the industry at large. I’m sure there will be a lot more written about the merger, especially as the regulators start taking a long, hard look at it. But for the time being, the biggest question I have is about people. Yes, there are new and interesting services that can be offered as a result of the merger, should it go through. Yes, there will be other acquisitions to come as competitors react to this change. And yes, there are major regulatory issues that will need to be examined. 

Those are important topics, but my question is this: If you are a truly talented technologist working at Refinitiv, are you really going to want to go through this process once again? The Blackstone deal closed not even 10 months earlier. There’s no guarantee that this deal will go through—if it does, there’s the inevitable integration projections and reorgs and mind-numbing culture meetings; if it doesn’t, much as Fidessa still got flipped after the Temenos deal fell through, it’s only a matter of time until the next suitor comes calling. If I’m a user of a Refinitiv-built platform—from compliance to risk management to trade execution and analytics—I’d be greatly concerned about the future … about innovation. 

Platforms and tools are great, but they are made by humans. It takes a lot of time to develop something that can transform an institution; it takes a lot of time to find and cultivate talent. Acquisitions will happen and everyone knew that the consortium led by Blackstone was going to eventually sell Refinitiv. Change was imminent. But the worry now is how much change will hit the rank and file at Refinitiv.