NASDAQ INC
For the period ended Dec 31, 2023. Filed Feb 21, 2024.
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FY2023 · Filed Feb 21, 2024
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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Shareholders and the Board of Directors of Nasdaq, Inc.
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Nasdaq, Inc. (the Company) as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, changes in stockholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company at December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, based on criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework), and our report dated February 21, 2024 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
Critical Audit Matter
The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective or complex judgments. The communication of the critical audit matter does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.
| Accounting for the Acquisition of Adenza | |
| Description of the Matter | As described in Note 4 to the consolidated financial statements, during 2023 the Company completed its acquisition of Adenza, which was accounted for as a business combination for total purchase consideration of $5,750 million in cash consideration (subject to customary post-closing adjustments) and the issuance of 85,608,414 shares of Nasdaq common stock at a price of $48.71 per share. The transaction resulted in the recognition of $5,933 million of goodwill and $5,050 million of intangible assets. Intangible assets consisted of customer relationships of $3,740 million, technology of $950 million and trade names of $360 million.Auditing the Company’s accounting for its acquisition of Adenza was complex due to the significant estimation uncertainty in the Company’s determination of the fair value of identified intangible assets. The significant estimation uncertainty was primarily due to the sensitivity of the fair value of the customer relationships intangible asset to certain underlying assumptions. The Company used the income approach, specifically the excess earnings method, to measure the fair value of the customer relationships intangible asset, and the significant assumptions used in estimating its fair value included customer attrition rate, revenue growth, EBITDA margin, and the discount rate. These significant assumptions are forward looking and could be affected by future economic and market conditions. |
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| How We Addressed the Matter in Our Audit | We obtained an understanding, evaluated the design and tested the operating effectiveness of controls over the Company’s processes with respect to estimates that impact the accounting for the Adenza acquisition. For example, we tested controls over the estimation process supporting the recognition and measurement of the identified intangible assets, including the customer relationships intangible asset, which encompassed testing controls over management’s review of assumptions used in the valuation model.To test the estimated fair value of the customer relationship intangible asset, we performed audit procedures that included, among others, evaluating the Company’s use of valuation methodologies, evaluating significant assumptions utilized by the Company, and evaluating the completeness and accuracy of the underlying data supporting those significant assumptions. We involved our valuation specialists to assist with our evaluation of the methodology used by the Company and significant assumptions included in the fair value estimate, including testing the customer attrition rate, revenue growth, EBITDA margin that form the basis of the forecasted results, and the discount rate. Additionally, we compared the significant assumptions to current industry, market and economic trends, to the historical results of the acquired business, and to the Company’s budgets and forecasts, in addition to performing sensitivity analyses over these assumptions. We also evaluated the adequacy of the Company’s disclosures included in Note 4 in relation to these acquisition matters. |
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/s/Ernst & Young LLP
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 1986.
New York, New York
February 21, 2024
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