Google offers real-time LSE data for free
GOOGLE is taking on the world’s leading financial data firms after striking a deal to provide real-time prices of stocks on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) for free.
The agreement means that users of the Google Finance website can now view a live feed of the “last trade price” – a service that was previously only available on a 15-minute delay.
Google Finance is targeted at individual investors but the addition of live data poses a threat to subscriber-only services aimed at professionals, such as those provided by Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters.
The deal is one of the first of its kind for the LSE, run by chief executive Xavier Rolet (pictured) and is not exclusive, meaning that similar agreements could be agreed with other websites.
“It shows that alternative aggregators can replicate some of the basic services of a Thomson Reuters or a Bloomberg, but what Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg provide in terms of the whole package is not replicated by what Google Finance provides,” said media analyst Thomas Singlehurst of Citigroup.
“Equally, it shows that any of these businesses that are built up on the aggregation of quasi-public data are going to see that competitive position eroded as other companies come along and try to do it better, whether it’s Bloomberg Law or Google Finance.”
A Bloomberg Terminal, ubiquitous on trading floors, costs in the region of $20,000 (£12,600) per year but does offer additional services, such as the ability to view tradeable prices and faster data delivery. In November 2011 LSE had 93,000 subscribers using such professional user terminals.
Google and the LSE would not comment on the cost of the live data but it is likely to be a substantial increase on their previous agreement.
The stock exchange’s data business is growing fast, with revenues rising 24 per cent to £52.8m last quarter, accounting for 27 per cent of group revenue.
Google also used the statement to announce similar agreements with Germany’s Deutsche Boerse and Italy’s Borsa Italiana.
The firm already provides real-time share data from the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, and exchanges in China and India.