The 10-year partnership calls for the London Stock Exchange Group to move all its systems to Microsoft Azure Cloud and work with the tech giant to develop new data and analytics products. Credit: Mike Blake/Reuters Microsoft has signed a 10-year deal with the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) that calls for the software giant to buy a 4% stake in the exchange in order to jointly develop new products and services for data and analytics. Microsoft will buy the stake from a Blackstone and Thomson Reuters consortium, which previously sold the financial data company Refinitiv to LSEG for £22bn (US$26.9 billion) in 2021. As a result of the new agreement, LSEG now has a contractual agreement over the 10-year period to spend a minimum of $2.8 billion on cloud-related products with Microsoft. While the financial terms of the deal have not been fully disclosed, under the arrangement, LSEG’s Workspace data and analytics application—acquired as part of the Refinitiv deal—will become integrated into Microsoft Teams, to provide users with a wider variety of in-app experiences than are currently available, including more detailed trend analysis and risk-building scenarios. Microsoft said its initial focus would be on delivering interoperability between Workspace and Microsoft Teams, Excel and PowerPoint, with other Microsoft applications and a new version of LSEG’s Workspace, accessed entirely within the Microsoft 365 suite, to be added in the future. “This strategic partnership is a significant milestone on LSEG’s journey towards becoming the leading global financial markets infrastructure and data business, and will transform the experience for our customers,” said David Schwimmer, CEO of London Stock Exchange Group, in comments published alongside a Microsoft blog post announcing the news. “Bringing together our leading data sets, analytics, and global customer base with Microsoft’s comprehensive and trusted cloud services and global reach creates attractive revenue growth opportunities for both companies,” he said. Since the news was announced, in early trading on Monday, LSEG’s share price rose by 4%. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also welcomed the announcement, saying in a press release that “advances in the cloud and AI will fundamentally transform how financial institutions research, interact, and transact across asset classes, and adapt to changing market conditions. “Our partnership will bring together the industry leadership of the London Stock Exchange Group with the trust and breadth of the Microsoft Cloud — spanning Azure, AI, and Teams — to build next-generation services that will empower our customers to generate business insights, automate complex and time-consuming processes, and ultimately, do more with less,” he said. The deal with the London Stock Exchange was not the only acquisition news announced by Microsoft in recent days. Last week, the company also bought Southampton, UK-based fiber-optic company Lumenisity for an undisclosed amount. Lumenisity was spun out from the University of Southampton in 2017, as part of a hollow core fiber-optic research project. Hollow core fiber allows light to travel at a lower latency and speeds up to 47% quicker compared to traditional fiber, with Microsoft saying it plans to use the company’s technology for cloud platform users that require strict latency and security requirements. “The technology can provide benefits across a broad range of industries including healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, retail and government,” said Girish Bablani, corporate vice president for Azure Core, in a blog post. Related content brandpost Sponsored by VMware The Java migration imperative: Why your business should upgrade now To truly take advantage of modern Java, apps built for the ecosystem must be constantly maintained to maximize performance and minimize exposure to risks and security vulnerabilities. By Ryan Morgan, Senior Director, VMware Tanzu, Broadcom Apr 29, 2024 8 mins Cloud Computing news Get Ready for FutureIT Boston With This AI Infographic By Shane O'Neill Apr 29, 2024 1 min Events Artificial Intelligence IT Leadership news Atos may sell national security activities to French government The troubled IT service provider could net up to $1 billion from the sale, meeting most of its financing needs for the next year. By Peter Sayer Apr 29, 2024 4 mins Government IT Government Managed IT Services feature Top 10 barriers to strategic IT success Data challenges, tech debt, and talent shortages are among the issues that can derail your IT org’s work on high-value initiatives. Here’s how some CIOs are addressing them. By Mary Pratt Apr 29, 2024 12 mins Hiring IT Skills Business IT Alignment PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe