After the US Department of Justice (DOJ) threatened a lawsuit to block the deal, the NASDAQ OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ) and IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (IEX) abandoned their joint bid to acquire NYSE Euronext. The DOJ found that the merger would create a monopoly or near-monopoly for certain services vital to the operation of financial markets, including listing corporations and certain stock auction services and market data products. The deal would have given NASDAQ control over NYSE's US-based stock trading venues, stock listings business, and certain market data licensing operations, which according to the DOJ are vital to the operation of US financial markets. NYSE's European futures businesses would have been sold to IEX.