With the storm kicked up by Michael Lewis’ new book about high-frequency trading continuing to swirl, Virtu Financial—a high-speed electronic trading firm headed by former Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison partner Douglas Cifu—has pushed back a planned initial public offering.
Bloomberg and The New York Times’ DealBook have reported that Virtu has decided to postpone by at least a week an initial public offering that could raise up to $250 million as the industry copes with the fallout generated by the release of Lewis’ “Flash Boys,” a book that has unnerved Wall Street and peaked the interest of regulators. The Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed this week that it is investigating whether electronic trading firms engage in insider trading and New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has issued his own call for curbs on high-speed traders as part of his own inquiry.
