Euronext's family tree reaches back to a Bruges bourse of 1285
Europe's biggest stock exchange group formed only in 2000, but its roots stretch back more than seven centuries. It traces its lineage to trading hubs in Bruges in 1285, Antwerp in 1485 and Amsterdam in 1602, plus the Paris Bourse of 1724. Today it also runs markets for Norwegian electricity and farmed fish.
The modern company emerged from a scramble. In 1998 the London and Frankfurt exchanges announced an alliance to fend off American rivals and exploit Europe's new single currency. Several continental bourses then signed a memorandum in Madrid in 1999 to join forces, but in the end only three went ahead: Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris merged on 22 September 2000, aiming to build one deep, integrated market for European securities.
Growth came quickly. Euronext floated its own shares in 2001, bought the London derivatives exchange LIFFE the same year and absorbed the Lisbon and Porto exchange in 2002. It then moved cash trading onto a single platform and launched Alternext, a segment to help smaller eurozone companies raise money. In 2007 it merged with the New York Stock Exchange; after the Intercontinental Exchange bought that combined group, it spun Euronext off again as an independent company in 2014.
Since then the group has kept expanding across the continent and now operates exchanges in eight countries, including Italy's Borsa Italiana, Dublin and Oslo. Legally registered in Amsterdam, it runs its operations from Paris, and the Paris market alone accounts for more than 80 percent of the group's total value. Clearing is handled from Rome.
The numbers are large. As of March 2025 Euronext hosted nearly 1,800 listed companies worth about 6.3 trillion euros, and it is the world's biggest venue for listing bonds and funds. Beyond shares, traders can buy derivatives, currencies, milling wheat and rapeseed. In 2023 it joined thirteen other exchanges in a venture to produce a single consolidated record of European trading prices.
Source: Euronext
