Susquehanna International Group
{{short description|Trading firm}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Susquehanna International Group, LLP
| logo = File:Susquehanna.svg
| image = Susquehanna International Group Main Office.jpg
| image_size = 260px
| image_caption = SIG's main office in the Philadelphia area, on 401 City Avenue
| type = Privately held (LLP)
| industry = {{ubl|Financial services|Banking|Global investment|Trading}}
| foundation = {{Start date and age|May 1987}}
| founders = {{ubl|Jeff Yass|Gerald Yass|Arthur Dantchik|Steve Bloom|Eric Brooks|Andrew Frost|Joel Greenberg|Peter Smith}}
| location = Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| area_served = 14 offices worldwide (as of 2022)
| products = {{ubl|Institutional brokerage|Market maker|Private equity}}
| owner =
| num_employees = 3,000+
| revenue = {{increase}} $7.2 billion (2024) {{Cite news |date=21 March 2024 |title=Bloomberg Billionaires Index |newspaper=Bloomberg |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/jeffrey-s-yass/}}
| company_slogan =
| homepage = {{URL|sig.com}}
}}
Susquehanna International Group, LLP (SIG) is a privately held, global trading and technology firm. SIG comprises a number of affiliated entities specializing in trading and proprietary investments in equities, fixed income, energy, commodity, index and derivative products, private equity and venture capital, research, customer trading and institutional sales.
SIG is a specialist or DPM (designated primary market maker) in approximately 600 equity options and 45 index options on the CBOE, AMEX, PHLX, and ISE, including equities such as Google, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, GE, PepsiCo, and Microsoft, and indices such as Nasdaq and Russell 2000 options.
The firm employs more than 3,000 people in offices across North America (New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston, Stamford), Australia (Sydney), Europe (Dublin, London) and Asia (Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo).{{Cite web |title=Susquehanna International Group (SIG) Graduate Programmes |url=https://au.prosple.com/graduate-employers/susquehanna-international-group-sig |access-date=2024-03-21 |website=Prosple Australia/GradAustralia}}{{Cite web |title=SIG Locations |url=https://sig.com/about/locations/ |access-date=2024-03-21 |website=sig.com}}
History
SIG was founded in May 1987 by six entrepreneurs, including Arthur Dantchik and Jeff Yass, who met in the late 1970s at the State University of New York at Binghamton, where they gathered to play cards.{{cite web |last=Massa |first=Annie |date=November 20, 2018 |title=The Poker Aces Playing a Key Hand in the $5 Trillion ETF Market |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-11-20/the-poker-aces-playing-a-key-hand-in-the-5-trillion-etf-market |work=Bloomberg Markets}} The company was named after the Susquehanna River, which flows near their alma mater. By October 1988, the firm had 100 employees and was located above the Philadelphia Stock Exchange.{{Cite news |last=Kuntz |first=Mary |date=October 16, 1998 |title=A start-up firm thrives despite the crash |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1988/10/16/a-start-up-firm-thrives-despite-the-crash/f2c5edbb-7a7f-4ed6-a8c9-01a9789c6dab/ |newspaper=The Washington Post}} The company generated $30 million in annual revenue in its first year, having earned millions through put options it had purchased prior to the Black Monday stock market crash.{{Cite news |last=Megaw |first=Nicholas |date=October 20, 2024 |title=How Susquehanna's Jeff Yass mastered the options game |url=https://www.ft.com/content/88ba9e42-09c2-480a-8b21-43051707f84d |work=Financial Times}}{{Cite news |last=Gara |first=Antoine |date=April 10, 2021 |title=How Trader Jeff Yass Parlayed Poker And Horse Race Handicapping Into A $12 Billion Fortune |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2021/04/06/how-trader-jeff-yass-parlayed-poker-and-horse-racing-bets-into-a-12-billion-fortune/ |work=Forbes}} Susquehanna's profits in the late 1990s often topped $1 billion. By then, the company was trading convertible bonds, commodity options, index options, and was a major exchange-traded fund market maker.
In 1996, SIG founded Heights Capital Management in San Francisco, which focuses on PIPE investments in healthcare and technology.
In 2005, SIG launched SIG China, its venture capital operation in China. As of 2022, the firm had invested in over 350 companies with over 70 exits.{{cite web|title=About Us|url=http://www.sig-china.com/#/index}}{{Primary source inline|date=March 2023}}
In 2006, SIG launched Susquehanna Growth Equity, which invests in software and information services, and offers growth stage funding to companies operating in the U.S. and Israel.{{cite web|title=SIG Venture Capital|url=https://sig-asiavc.com/about/}} At this point, SIG had grown to over 12 offices throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.{{cite web|title=Susquehanna launches US private equity arm|date=3 January 2013 |url=https://www.privateequityinternational.com/susquehanna-launches-us-private-equity-arm/}}
The same year, the firm invested in Kuxun, a search engine company, which was sold three years later, in 2009, to Expedia.{{cite web|title=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=17 January 2022 |url=https://www.inquirer.com/business/law/susquehanna-international-group-tiktok-bytedance-investment-lawsuit-20220117.html}}
SIG experienced a major downturn during the 2008 financial crisis but rebounded quickly, benefitting from the federal government's bailout of the financial system.{{Cite web |last1=Elliot |first1=Justin |last2=Eisinger |first2=Jesse |last3=Kiel |first3=Paul |last4=Ernsthausen |first4=Jeff |last5=Burke |first5=Doris |date=June 21, 2022 |title=Meet the Billionaire and Rising GOP Mega-Donor Who's Gaming the Tax System |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/jeff-yass-susquehanna-tiktok-tax-avoidance |publisher=ProPublica}}
The firm invested $5 million into ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, in 2012 when ByteDance was founded. As of 2020, its stake in ByteDance represented 15 percent of its fully-diluted capitalization table and was valued over $15 billion on paper.{{cite web | last1=Winkler | first1=Rolfe | last2=Yang | first2=Jing | last3=Osipovich | first3=Alexander | title=Secretive High-Speed Trading Firm Hits Jackpot With TikTok | website=WSJ | date=2020-10-01 | url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001094741if_/https://www.wsj.com/articles/secretive-high-speed-trading-firm-hits-jackpot-with-tiktok-11601544610 | access-date=2024-04-25}}
In 2013, SIG acquired G1 Execution Services LLC (G1X) from E-Trade.{{cite news |last1=Baker |first1=Nick |title=E*Trade Sells Market Making Unit to Susquehanna for $75 Million |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-10-23/e-trade-sells-market-making-unit-to-susquehanna-for-75-million |publisher=Bloomberg |date=October 23, 2013}}
In 2014, SIG expanded its venture capital operations to Japan.
In 2017, SIG launched Susquehanna Private Capital, LLC, which focuses on buyouts of U.S. middle market companies in the aerospace, industrials, consumer, healthcare, and business and government services industries.{{cite press release|title=Susquehanna International Group, LLP Announces Launch of Susquehanna Private Capital, LLC|url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/susquehanna-international-group-llp-announces-launch-of-susquehanna-private-capital-llc-300398321.html}}
Also in 2017, SIG established Nellie Analytics, a Dublin-based sports betting company.{{cite news |last1=Chellel |first1=Kit |last2=Massa |first2=Annie |title=A Well-Known Quant Firm Is Looking for Traders Who Want to Bet on Sports |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-30/sports-gambling-is-quant-trading-firm-s-way-to-beat-market-odds |publisher=Bloomberg |date=October 30, 2017}}
As of 2018, the firm traded about seven percent of U.S. ETF volume and more than $1.5 trillion in ETFs globally on an annual basis.
As of 2022, the firm had 14 offices worldwide.
SIG played a significant market maker role in the 2024 merger of Digital World Acquisition Corp. and Trump Media & Technology Group.{{Cite web |last=Terruso |first=Julia |date=2024-03-22 |title=Pa. billionaire Jeffrey Yass’ firm has a large holding in company that merged with Trump’s Truth Social |url=https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/jeff-yass-donald-trump-truth-social-pennsylvania-politics-20240322.html |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=www.inquirer.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=DiStefano |first=Joseph N. |date=2024-04-10 |title=How Jeff Yass’ firm makes money from companies like Trump’s Truth Social |url=https://www.inquirer.com/politics/nation/jeff-yass-market-maker-trump-media-20240410.html |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=www.inquirer.com |language=en}}
Affiliates
- Susquehanna Financial Group (SFG): SIG's institutional broker-dealer business, which provides order execution and trading flow services, and equity research coverage of nearly 200 companies.
- Susquehanna Structured Capital: Structured capital group that provides debt and structured equity investments to middle and lower-middle market companies as well as commercial and multi-family real estate projects.{{cite web|title=About|url=https://sig.com/about/about/}}
- Susquehanna Foundation: The corporate foundation of SIG. The foundation is organized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and contributes to school reform causes.{{cite web | url=https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/susquehanna-foundation/ | title=Susquehanna Foundation }}
Controversies and legal issues
=Allegations of front-running client accounts=
In 2009, the California Public Employees' Retirement System led a class action lawsuit against SIG and other broker-dealers, including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Van der Moolen, and others, for improperly executing trades for their dealer accounts ahead of their clients. The lawsuit reached a settlement in 2012, when the defendants, including SIG, agreed to a $18.5 million settlement.{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/specialists-settlement/specialist-firms-agree-to-18-5-mln-settlement-in-class-action-idUSL1E8M9CVU20121109|title=Specialist firms agree to $18.5 mln settlement in class action|website=Reuters }}
=Allegations of spoofing stock=
In 2022, Northwest Biotherapeutics claimed in a suit filed in a Manhattan federal court that SIG, Citadel Securities, Virtu Financial, and other market making firms engaged in repeated spoofing that drove Northwest's share price downward.{{cite web|title=Citadel Securities, Virtu Accused of Spoofing Biotech Stock|url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/securities-law/citadel-securities-others-accused-of-spoofing-biotech-shares}} The case was dismissed in 2024.{{Cite web |url=https://www.law360.com/healthcare-authority/articles/1803164/citadel-securities-others-beat-biotech-spoofing-suit-for-now |title=Citadel Securities, Others Beat Biotech Spoofing Suit, For Now |date=February 15, 2024 |last=Perera |first=Katryna |website=Law360}}
References
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