In an article in Institutional Investor, Mark is quoted discussing CME Group taking a long-term view.

CME is the only one among [companies that are innovating] that has created an in-house corporate venture arm. That seemingly slight variation in its innovation-capturing strategy is significant.

“CME Ventures is not doing what you’d expect from a strategic investment group in this space; they’re not going out and just investing in a bunch of trading and derivatives-related start-ups,” says Mark Longo, a Chicago-based former options trader who now runs the Options Insider, a website that offers options users free news and analysis. “They’re taking a longer view. They’re doing a lot of esoteric stuff; things that may or may not accrete to their bottom line in the next five years or even a decade.”

Longo notes that CME may have the luxury of taking a long view in part because of its dominant position in futures trading. Many of the company’s peers, especially those in the crowded options-trading market, are under more pressure from shareholders to swiftly demonstrate the results of investments and acquisitions.

You can read the whole article here.

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