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Predicting the Death of the Bloomberg Terminal – Waters Technology

Bloomberg TerminalsBloomberg terminals are like cable television. Streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, HBO GO and Showtime Anytime have become staples in many people’s homes and caused them to question whether or not they actually need to pay for cable. FULL ARTICLE 
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  • Avatar
    CharlieJanuary 29, 2016"People love to hate Bloomberg and therefore avidly read stories about its potential demise. The analogy of the cable TV subscription is interesting, I would beg to differ that messaging is the only reason people keep subscribing, it used to be in say the year 2000 but in 2015 my theory is that it is more about access to trading, trade prices, trade execution venues, post trade processes etc. For example look at BBGs share of the SEF market. You would like to make pric…"
  • Goose
    GooseJanuary 29, 2016"I am in consensus with the main points here so I will just add my own spin. It starts with their social network. In cash fixed income, you can’t trade without the Bloomberg that is touching that entire community. That makes it extremely difficult to offer any competing product that comes with the base Bloomberg terminal. All the bells and whistles for $1,800 is very compelling. Any piece of functionality/data/cashflows that is the default standard for that social netw…"
  • Hollywood
    HollywoodJanuary 28, 2016"Not to inject politics…ah, what the heck. Trump opined on Bloomberg potentially entering the presidential race this week. He further injected an ego driven net worth comparison (as it pertains to the News Letter topic): Trump stated “"It's a technology company — I mean, if someone came in, frankly, and comes up with a better machine than him, people would stop using his machine," and “I don't even know why other companies haven't come up with a better machine. Why? It…"
  • Wolfman
    WolfmanJanuary 28, 2016"Bloomberg is the social network for the Financial Services industry and although the application leaves much to be desired, the power o the network will be difficult to replace. It can happen, but there are ways in which companies have already reduced the cost of Bloomberg terminals. There are many firms who had asked a simply question to their staff. Is the terminal important enough o you that you would pay for it? In many cases, the answer is yes and employees are w…"
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Cougar
8 years ago

Institutions want to reduce (or ideally eliminate) their Bloomberg Terminal usage because of the high fixed cost, but importantly because it doesn’t provide what they need. So why is the Terminal so ubiquitous? Communication – as the article states, the people on the Street WHO MATTER are on the platform – self-selecting through the high cost. No back office queries, retail oddlots, just pure market execution and gossip. No one really cares about the platform if the community is maintained. Standardized data and functions – minimizes downtime when people transfer roles. I’ve had clients refuse to trade when their spread/bond… Read more »

Slider
8 years ago

There are plenty of excellent solutions out there for many, if not most, of the functionality offered by Bloomberg. Plus, many of them are both ‘better’ (user friendlier) as well as being less expensive! In addition, as mentioned by Cougar, users can pick and choose the services desired and optimize their costs. BUT, as long as people insist on using the Bloomberg terminal for messaging and communication, it seems unlikely to be going anywhere. I have attended a few Symphony webinars which mostly are to show off their integration with outside vendor data and how you can utilize and socialize… Read more »

Wolfman
8 years ago

Bloomberg is the social network for the Financial Services industry and although the application leaves much to be desired, the power o the network will be difficult to replace. It can happen, but there are ways in which companies have already reduced the cost of Bloomberg terminals. There are many firms who had asked a simply question to their staff. Is the terminal important enough o you that you would pay for it? In many cases, the answer is yes and employees are willing to subsidize the cost of the terminal. That’s not an enterprise solution, but it shows just… Read more »

Hollywood
8 years ago

Not to inject politics…ah, what the heck. Trump opined on Bloomberg potentially entering the presidential race this week. He further injected an ego driven net worth comparison (as it pertains to the News Letter topic): Trump stated “”It’s a technology company — I mean, if someone came in, frankly, and comes up with a better machine than him, people would stop using his machine,” and “I don’t even know why other companies haven’t come up with a better machine. Why? It’s so simple. I mean, they come up in such a competitive world, but for some reason they haven’t come… Read more »

Goose
8 years ago

I am in consensus with the main points here so I will just add my own spin. It starts with their social network. In cash fixed income, you can’t trade without the Bloomberg that is touching that entire community. That makes it extremely difficult to offer any competing product that comes with the base Bloomberg terminal. All the bells and whistles for $1,800 is very compelling. Any piece of functionality/data/cashflows that is the default standard for that social network is also extremely difficult. I also ran into the same issues as Cougar arguing about trading on cash flows, coupon dates,… Read more »

Charlie
8 years ago

People love to hate Bloomberg and therefore avidly read stories about its potential demise. The analogy of the cable TV subscription is interesting, I would beg to differ that messaging is the only reason people keep subscribing, it used to be in say the year 2000 but in 2015 my theory is that it is more about access to trading, trade prices, trade execution venues, post trade processes etc. For example look at BBGs share of the SEF market. You would like to make prices in corporate debt connecting to all the trade venues? The cheapest and best solution is… Read more »