DealZone

Asia runs the risk of being left behind in the sudden wave of transatlantic stock exchange consolidation, given the tough regulatory regimes, cumbersome ownership structures and protectionist minded governments.

The Wall Street Journal profiles NYSE CEO Duncan Niederauer.

Columnist Felix Salmon weights in on why the stock market is increasingly irrelevant.

General Electric is to buy a unit of British energy services firm John Wood Group for about $2.8 billion. The acquisition raises hopes of more deals in the oilfield services sector, where GE has recently been an active buyer of assets.

Private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice said it would buy healthcare and physician services company Emergency Medical Services for a discount price of about $3 billion.

Online gaming group Zynga is holding talks with potential investors which could lead to it raising $250 million in new funding, the Wall Street Journal reported. That may give Zynga a valuation of between $7 billion and $9 billion, the paper said.

“The last time valuations soared so high for companies with modest track records, or no track records, the trend line heralded the dot-com crash,” reports the Los Angeles Times.