Microsoft is buying nearly 4% of the shares in the London Stock Exchange as part of a 10-year cloud deal

Microsoft logo seen in their building in Redmond, Washington.
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LONDON – American technology giant Microsoft announced on Monday a 1[ads1]0-year collaboration with London Stock Exchange The group and took a stake of almost 4% in the British exchange operator.
The partnership involves next-generation data and analytics, as well as cloud computing products, according to a statement from LSEG. It includes a new data infrastructure for the London Stock Exchange and analytics and modeling solutions with Microsoft Azure, AI and Microsoft Teams.
“This strategic partnership is a significant milestone in LSEG’s journey to becoming the leading global financial markets infrastructure and data business, and will transform the experience for our clients,” David Schwimmer, CEO of LSEG, said in the statement.
Microsoft will buy a roughly 4% stake in the British firm from the Blackstone/Thomson Reuters Consortium.
The agreement will see various Microsoft products used across various parts of LSEG’s operations. Microsoft will migrate the exchange’s data platform and other key technology infrastructure to its cloud built on Azure, the American giant’s major public cloud product.
LSEG has a contractual agreement over the 10-year period to spend a minimum of $2.8 billion on cloud-related products with Microsoft.
The exchange said this is “consistent with existing long-term” spending plans.
Microsoft and LSEG will also collaborate on developing new professional collaboration tools. LSEG has developed a product called Workspace, a data and analysis platform. The two companies will work to promote this product and integrate it with Microsoft Teams, the company’s messaging app.

The release also said Scott Guthrie, Microsoft’s executive vice president of the Cloud and AI Group, will be named a non-executive director of LSEG.
LSEG’s shares were seen up 4% or 5% ahead of the market opening in Europe on Monday.
Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, said: “Advances in the cloud and AI will fundamentally change how financial institutions research, interact and trade across asset classes and adapt to changing market conditions.”
The London Stock Exchange agreed to buy financial information firm Refinitiv back in 2019 in a deal valued at $27 billion.