Where Are They Now?
Where Are They Now?
IMD September 16, 2002
New York - London
ISSN 1047-2908 Vol 17 No 49
The Inside Track
When we were downsized out of Telerate in 1998, we quickly realized that no one really cared what happened to us, except for family and some close friends. And of course, our creditors.
We ended up staying in the market data industry, but despite the attractions, not everyone does. So we decided to track down some marquee names, some of whom have moved away from the market data business over the years.
Neil Hirsch, the founder and principal owner of Telerate, took some of the money he got from Dow Jones when he sold them the final piece of Telerate in 1990 and started Loanet Holdings, which provides online real-time ASP services for securities lending, along with Steven Rappaport (former chief operating officer at Telerate) and Alan Zimmerman (former chief financial officer at Telerate). SunGard bought Loanet in 2001 for $246 million, and Hirsch received $167 million. He now plays polo and raises polo ponies in Florida. He also owns a tony bar/restaurant in Wellington, Fla. called The Players. Rappaport and Zimmerman formed RZ Capital, a holding company that invests in cash flow positive ventures and not market data vendors. None buys lottery tickets anymore.
Since leaving Fame Information Services as president and CEO in April, Gerry Mintz has been consulting with several companies on developing strategies and tactics to deal with the current market conditions and establishing relationships with other vendors. Mintz says he is now actively investigating several opportunities.
When Bridge bought Telesphere in July 1997, Ken Marlin came along as executive vice president, global marketing and product management. He stayed with Bridge for two years until he went to Veronis & Suhler in 1999. In 2001, he formed Marlin Associates, which focuses on merger and acquisition activities for information-based businesses.
Bernie Weinstein, president of the sales and trading group at Thomson Financial and a cofounder of ILX Systems, relinquished his duties at the end of June and is slated to leave Thomson Financial effective Jan. 1, 2003. When we caught up with him in June, he was reluctant to shed any light on his plans, probably because he is still technically an employee. Recent calls to Bernie were not returned, but we’re positive we will see him at the New York City Marathon on Nov. 3 either as a participant or doing volunteer work with handicapped runners.
Former Telerate kingpin John Jessop (yes, he actually was senior executive vice president of Telerate when he resigned in 1990) told us he was reluctant to talk because of "an unfortunate occasion some years back," when he was apparently misquoted in Inside Market Data. Jessop says he actually said Dow Jones executives were doing a fabulous job running the then-newly acquired Telerate and that he was filled with admiration. He denies saying, "They were a bunch of turkeys in charge of a shoot." Jessop adds, "It may be water under the bridge, or if you prefer, water over Bridge Information Systems Inc., but such mistakes are not easily forgotten or forgiven." All right, John. Aside from being an aspiring stand up comedian, Jessop is consulting these days but he won’t tell us where. (Do he and Bernie really think we’d tell anyone else?)
And then there’s Mike Bloomberg, who took a little-paying job in downtown Manhattan. We let the New York Times and tabs like the New York Post and Daily News keep us up to date on what he’s doing. Who’d have thought a market data guy would one day end up mayor of this great city?
John A. McConville