Nasdaq’s Headquarters Appears Near Collapse

The headquarters of the Nasdaq Stock Market was on the verge of destruction Wednesday evening as the building that houses the No. 2 U.S. market was collapsing after an attack laid waste to the nearby World Trade Center.

All 127 of Nasdaq’s central office staffers were safely evacuated from One Liberty Plaza after a second hijacked commercial plane crashed into the World Trade Center on Tuesday, a company spokesman said.

Witnesses told Reuters the building was near collapse.

Nasdaq moved its headquarters into One Liberty less than six months ago. The firm also maintains a public market-information site in New York’s Times Square.

Nasdaq isn’t a physical stock exchange like the New York Stock Exchange, which also is located near the World Trade Center. Rather, Nasdaq is an electronic network of brokerages nationwide.

The market’s New York headquarters staff represents 10% of the total work force. Those workers will be relocated to offices elsewhere in the U.S., a spokesman said.

Nasdaq’s other locations include offices in suburban Connecticut, Washington, Chicago and Menlo Park, Calif.