In 2000, Sprecher and his colleagues launched their company under "Intercontinental Exchange," a name suggesting that their innovative brokerage was not bound by national borders and could serve a global market. In the last twenty years, ICE has done just that by making several bold acquisitions of global brokerages and clearing agencies, including the International Petroleum Exchange, the New York Board of Trade, Creditex, and NYSE Euronext (otherwise known as the New York Stock Exchange). ICE's acquisition of NYSE Euronext in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $11 billion in November 2013 is particularly notable because it signifies how technology in the trading industry was changing. The days of blazer-wearing brokers calling out bids in the pit were about to give way to the era of high-speed computerized trading. In the last decade, we've seen how electronic trading has reduced the cost of buying and selling stocks and has made trading more accessible to your average investor.