Kraft to move stock listing from NYSE to Nasdaq

GlobalPost

Kraft Foods Inc. will leave the New York Stock Exchange and list its stock on the Nasdaq, the packaged foods company announced today, according to the Associated Press.

Kraft is the largest-ever company to switch markets, Bloomberg News reported.

The Nasdaq has been criticized recently for its handling of Facebook Inc.’s initial public offering, the AP reported.

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But the listing fees for the Nasdaq are lower, Kraft said, and Kraft is looking to cut costs, the AP reported.

The Nasdaq also impressed Kraft with the advertising it does on behalf of its member companies, Kraft spokesman Michael Mitchell said, according to the AP. Kraft said Nasdaq's billboard in Times Square in New York City will help raise the profile of its products.

Kraft shares will begin trading under its current ticker symbol, KFT, on the Nasdaq on June 26, Bloomberg News reported.

Kraft plans to split into two publicly traded companies later this year – Kraft Foods Group Inc. and Mondelez International Inc. – Bloomberg News reported. The two new companies will also be traded on the Nasdaq, under stock tickers KRFT and MDLZ, respectively.

More from GlobalPost: Mondelēz: Kraft’s new name for its snack business

According to Reuters:

Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange, a unit of NYSE Euronext, compete ferociously and poach listings from one another.

Recent exchange switches include TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. hopping from Nasdaq to NYSE this spring and Viacom Inc. jumping from NYSE to Nasdaq last year, Reuters reported.

"You win some, you lose some," NYSE Euronext Chief Executive Officer Duncan Niederauer said today about Kraft jumping ship, Bloomberg News reported. "You're not going to win every one."

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