Get To Know Your Stock: Intercontinental Exchange Inc
Before Intercontinental Exchange became the global clearinghouse powerhouse it’s become today, the company has its roots in over-the-counter commodity trading as Continental Power Exchange in the late 1990s. In 1996, Jeffrey Sprecher purchased Continental Power Exchange (then, CPEX) for $1, plus the assumption of the company’s debt from MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, now known as Berkshire Hathaway Energy. At the time, CPEX was in poor financial shape, and Jeffrey had plans to build a new, internet-based trading platform for over-the-counter energy markets. This transaction came a few short years after the passing of the Energy Policy Act of 1992, deregulating much of the electric industry.
By 1997, CPEX had multiple systems in place to handle manual trading and was ready to meet exceptional growth demands. In the year 2000, Sprecher changed the name of the Power Exchange to what we recognize today as Intercontinental Exchange Inc, with the mission to bring energy trading to an online marketplace.
Shortly after the official name change in 2000, ICE was eager to earn clientele. ICE’s strategy was to form a “consortium of major market participants,” offering the firms equity in ICE in exchange for their commitment as active traders. ICE was able to secure backing from giants like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BP, Shell, and others. The company had officially secured instant liquidity and credibility. As energy trading began its economic boom, few companies had the technical footing to shape the market.
ICE possessed the technical infrastructure at the bleeding edge of over-the-counter energy trading, but they
weren’t the only company with good footing at the time. ICE’s largest competitor at this time happened to be the infamous Enron. At that point, Enron was aggressively promoting its own proprietary energy trading platform, EnronOnline, a stark contrast to the neutral, participant-owned platform ICE was running.
During these pivotal moments, ICE had reached out to Enron and made an offer for them to join the company’s trading platform, however, Enron ultimately refused. This was poor strategizing on Enron’s part. A few short months later, Enron would rapidly, and loudly, collapse. ICE was quick to fill the void left by Enron, catapulting it to a leading position in the market, and even absorbing an Enron asset to expand its offerings even faster.
Today, ICE manages a global reach of twelve regulated exchanges and six central clearing houses, offering futures, options, equities, bonds, and data services across multiple continents. What began as a $1 acquisition of a struggling power exchange has transformed into a financial infrastructure giant with a market capitalization exceeding $80 billion. As financial markets continue to evolve with new technologies and regulatory frameworks, ICE’s foundational story serves as a reminder that sometimes the most transformative companies emerge not from greenfield ventures, but from the strategic reimagining of existing, undervalued assets.
As of July 2025