Nasdaq, LSE and SOX

According to the WSJ, "shares in London Stock Exchange PLC have nearly doubled since the start of the year" because of the Nasdaq bid for the LSE.  But the article points out that Nasdaq trades at a higher valuation, and wonders why.

More importantly for present purposes, the article points out that the valuation discrepancies are likely to change because "European exchanges have a lot of advantages that are being overlooked." For example, "growing listings businesses for companies that want to sell their shares outside the U.S., where they aren't subjected to tough U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley financial-reporting rules."

So the value of the LSE depends partly on SOX. How nice of us to help our friends across the pond. NASDAQ's owners, by owning LSE, could gain from any future regulatory erosion of the US cross-listing market. But that's not a solution for the rest of the US securities industry.