Nasdaq Acquires Marketwired, Highlights 'Market-Leading Social Media Targeting Tools And Analytics'

Shares of Nasdaq Inc NDAQ were trading higher by more than 1 percent on Friday. The company announced it has acquired Marketwired. Marketwired is a provider of news distribution services and analytics for communications professionals. The company's customer base consists of 8,500 clients, many of which are Forbes 2000 companies, private corporations and public relations agencies. Terms of the agreement were not announced, but Nasdaq doesn't anticipate the transaction to have any material impact on its financial leverage or capital return strategy. Nasdaq stated that the acquisition is expected to "further bolster Nasdaq's position as a leading, global corporate services provider" given Marketwired's "market-leading social media targeting tools and analytics." Nasdaq added that the combined entity will be a "leader" in global distribution of news releases through Nasdaq's GlobeNewsire distribution. "This transaction is a testament to our commitment to growing this business and delivering the most innovative communications tools and intelligence to our Corporate Solutions clients across the investor relations and public relations solutions suite," said Adena Friedman, President and Chief Operating Officer, Nasdaq. "As our clients' needs continue to expand, we will be well-positioned to offer new tools, content, and services to meet their evolving IR and PR challenges and opportunities."