Quotron was aLos Angeles–based company that in 1960 became the firstfinancial data technology company to deliver stock market quotes to an electronic screen rather than on a printedticker tape. The Quotron offeredbrokers and money managers up-to-the-minute prices and other information aboutsecurities.[1] The Quotron was developed by Scantlin Electronics, owned by entrepreneur John Scantlin. Scantlin had earlier developed a quotation device that used magnetic tape instead ofticker tape.[2] Quotron's first major competitor wasTelerate, which was founded byNeil Hirsch in 1969 and later bought byDow Jones in 1990.[3]
Citicorp bought Quotron in 1986. At the time Quotron was renting 100,000 terminals which equated to 60 percent of the 1986 market forfinancial data.[4] Following the Citicorp acquisition, Quotron's largest client, brokerage houseMerrill Lynch, decided not to renew their contract with Quotron. Merrill Lynch instead invested in a competing startup namedBloomberg.
Most computer screens in the 1980s were able to display text in a single color. Quotron screens had green text on a black background. The Quotron was the screen used byCharlie Sheen's Bud Fox andMichael Douglas'sGordon Gekko characters in the 1987 movieWall Street.[5] When the Bloomberg professional terminal launched for bond traders it had amber text on a black background.
Quotron did not keep pace with developments in technology and the company was slow to move from a dedicated terminal to personal computers, as the proprietaryBloomberg Terminal overtook its market share. By 1994 Quotron had only 35,000 terminals compared with 80,000 forAutomatic Data Processing and 25,000 for ILX, according to Waters Information Services. Citicorp lost money on Quotron every year and, in 1994, paid Reuters Holdings P.L.C. more than $100 million to purchase the ailing Quotron. Quotron then became Reuters' trading floor terminal, until it was superseded by theReuters 3000 Xtra and Triarch platform. Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg lead the trading floor terminal space today with 70% of the market.[1]In early 2023, Quotron has been revitalized by a group of tech entrepreneurs that have started developing modern stock tickers for individuals traders.[6]
