How Nasdaq Turned Its Index Into a Listings Weapon

When Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman took the stage at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C, in March, she wasn’t shy about how the company wields its stock indexes to woo business.

In an interview with Carlyle Group Chair David Rubenstein, Friedman highlighted Nasdaq’s key distinction from rival exchanges: It also manages the influential Nasdaq-100 index, the benchmark whose rules dictate how roughly $800 billion worth of funds invest. That means Nasdaq can help push investor dollars toward the companies that list on its exchanges.