A bidding war over Nordic exchange OMX has much more riding on it than the future of the Stockholm-based company– it could go as far as determining the fate of Nasdaq’s chief executive Bob Greifeld.

When Greifeld, who presided over two failed efforts to buy the London Stock Exchange,  said in May that Nasdaq had agreed to buy OMX, it looked like the top U.S. electronic stock exchange would finally find a willing partner overseas, as rival NYSE had with Euronext.

But then Borse Dubai — a state-owned holding company that didn’t exist last month — trumped Nasdaq’s bid with its own offer for OMX. 

If Nasdaq fails this time around, shareholders could get impatient with the exchange’s sagging share price. They may push for the company to sell itself, or at least to shake things up in the executive suite, analysts said.

“If this doesn’t go through, I can’t imagine the level of frustration there,” said Celent consultant David Easthope. “When people are frustrated stocks suffer. And when stocks suffer, changes are made.”