A new stock exchange backed by Silicon Valley heavyweights has gone live, focusing on companies and investors who share a long-term vision in a sector often in thrall to short-term price changes.
The Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE) went live this week, with trading of all US exchange-listed securities.
Now the venture is seeking listings, hoping that companies will pick it over the likes of Nyse and Nasdaq thanks to its focus on promoting long-term growth.
Founded by Silicon Valley player Eric Ries, who initially proposed the concept in his 2011 book “The Lean Startup,” the LTSE has secured about $90 million in funding from the likes of Founders Fund, Collaborative Fund and Andreessen Horowitz.
Firms that choose to list on LTSE will need to publish and maintain a series of policies designed to provide shareholders with insight into their long-term strategies, practices, plans and measures.
The underlying principles of these policies should measure success in years and decades, align compensation of executives and directors with long-term performance, engage directors in long-term strategy, and engage long-term shareholders, says LTSE.
Says Ries: "The Long-Term Stock Exchange offers companies a new way to be public that supports the building of sustainable businesses, tightening ties with investors who share a long-term horizon, and a stakeholder approach."