Wall Street financier Kenneth Langone is attempting to mount a bid to buy the New York Stock Exchange, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper says that Langone has quietly reached out to a number of Wall Street executives, asking them if they would be interested in participating in a counter bid for both the Nyse and ArcaEx - the electronic trading network which agreed to merge with the Big Board last week.
The Nyse "represents a potentially great investment opportunity," the Journal quoted Langone as saying.
Langone, chairman of investment house Invemed Associates, was a co-founder of home improvement chain Home Depot and former director of the Nyse.
Langone is reputed to be trying to tap into the anger that many Wall Street executives feel about the multiple roles played by Goldman Sachs Group in the Nyse-Archipelago deal, as a shareholder in both firms and advisor on the sale.