There's a spectrum of liquidity from the instantly-tradable (a small position in a liquid equity) to the basically-impossible-to-get-rid-of (a controlling stake in a complicated asset). And there are many companies whose economics are basically tied to how many deals they can effectively do. The exchange business is tied to the liquid end of that spectrum, with its economics tied to how frequently people want to trade, and what data they'll pay for to trade more efficiently.[1] At the other end of the spectrum, there are service businesses that profit from chunkier transactions, either by getting a fee for M&A deals or by conducting such deals themselves.
In that model, London Stock Exchange Group is a barbell of a business. A few years ago, they were mostly focused on the eponymous exchange, but over time they’ve diversified, especially through their 20