“The Nasdaq Stock Market is lobbying large, blue-chip companies that trade on the New York Stock Exchange to list their shares on both Nasdaq and the Big Board as part of a program it plans to launch next week, according to people familiar with the matter,” writes Deborah Solomon in today’s Wall Street Journal.

“The move would break a recent tradition in the U.S. stock markets, where major companies tend to list on only one major market.”

“Nasdaq, which competes against the Big Board for corporate listings, plans to announce that Hewlett-Packard Co., one of the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones industrial average and which now trades on the NYSE, has agreed to list its shares on both markets, these people said. The addition of H-P is a coup for Nasdaq, which has been trying for years to woo NYSE-listed companies to its marketplace. While companies that participate in Nasdaq’s program won’t leave the NYSE, a decision to also list with Nasdaq could be seen as a rebuke of the Big Board and could give Nasdaq more cachet. Just two of Nasdaq’s listed stocks, Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp., are in the Dow average currently.”

“Spokeswomen for H-P and Nasdaq declined to comment. The NYSE’s interim chairman, John Reed, didn’t return calls for comment.”

“Nasdaq’s move comes as the Big Board continues to reel from its corporate governance problems and an investigation into allegedly abusive trading practices on the exchange floor. In an interview late last summer, Nasdaq’s Chief Executive Robert Greifeld said he wanted it to take a more aggressive stance in netting new companies, and that he was dividing his stock relationship managers into “hunters,” who would try to get NYSE companies to switch affiliations and “farmers,” who would maintain relations with existing Nasdaq companies.”

“But the dual-listing proposal is a pared-back version of what Mr. Greifeld envisioned. Rather than convincing NYSE-listed companies to abandon the exchange and become Nasdaq-listed stocks, Nasdaq will now begin allowing companies to attach themselves to both markets, without indicating particular loyalty to one or the other.”
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For the past several months, Nasdaq officials have been shopping the idea of joint listings to some big companies, citing greater exposure for their stocks, better technology and pending reform at the NYSE as reasons to list with Nasdaq, according to officials who have been approached. For instance, Nasdaq has told some issuers that they should take the opportunity to become familiar with Nasdaq’s electronic-trading platform since the NYSE may eventually adopt more automated trading as part of its reform plans.”

“Separately, people familiar with the matter have said that about five weeks ago, Mr. Greifeld approached Mr. Reed about a possible combination of the Nasdaq and Big Board markets. But that discussion was unrelated to Nasdaq’s effort to attract NYSE-listed companies, which has been under way for months, according to someone close to the situation.”

“Backing Nasdaq’s plan is Fidelity Investments, one of the largest traders in NYSE-listed stocks. Fidelity officials have encouraged some NYSE companies to jointly list their shares on Nasdaq, saying it will foster more competition in the market and lead to better prices, according to people familiar with the matter. ‘We favor competition among markets to promote price efficiency and enhanced returns for our shareholders,’ said John Brockelman, a spokesman for Fidelity.”