The Intercontinental Exchange Group (ICE, NYSE: ICE) was founded in 2000 and is a leading operator of exchanges, trading platforms, and clearing houses, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
ICE operates 12 exchanges and six clearing houses, covering multiple market fields, including the New York Stock Exchange, the Intercontinental Exchange, ICE Futures Canada, ICE Clear Europe, ICE Clear US, NYSE MKT, NYSE Alternext, NYSE Arca Europe, NYSE Arca, the London International Petroleum Exchange, among others.
ICE offers a diverse range of business systems. Initially, ICE mainly dealt with trading energy-related products, such as crude oil, natural gas, electricity, and carbon emissions. With subsequent mergers and acquisitions, its business scope has expanded to other commodities, such as sugar, cotton, coffee, foreign exchange, and index futures.
Stock listings, trading, and related derivatives are mainly conducted on securities exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange; energy and financial futures and options contracts are primarily traded on ICE Futures US and other derivative exchanges. Moreover, ICE provides trade execution, processing, and clearing services for the over-the-counter energy and credit derivatives markets.
ICE was founded by Jeffrey C. Sprecher. In 1997, Sprecher acquired the Continental Power Exchange in Atlanta and turned it into an over-the-counter market with energy futures as the main traded products, using the Internet as the trading platform. In 2000, with investments from financial institutions including BP, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley, Sprecher successfully transformed it into the Intercontinental Exchange. Since 2001, the Intercontinental Exchange has engaged in significant acquisition activities almost every year, acquiring exchanges and clearing companies in the UK, Brazil, the Netherlands, Singapore, and more. In 2013, the Intercontinental Exchange acquired NYSE Euronext, making it one of the world's largest integrated exchanges.
The operations of the Intercontinental Exchange Group are global. Besides its headquarters in Atlanta, it has offices in New York, London, Chicago, Winnipeg, Calgary, Houston, and Singapore. ICE's clients are spread across more than 70 countries, encompassing thousands of trading companies.
As one of the largest exchanges by global revenue, ICE achieved $6.55 billion in revenue in 2019, ranking first globally, and also achieved a net profit of $1.96 billion, likewise ranking first worldwide.
