DATA IS KING ON WALL STREET; 2 PROVIDERS JOIN IN $44B DEAL

The value that Wall Street places on access to billions of bytes of data, rather than old-school stock picking, became abundantly clear as two of the biggest providers of such information become one in the biggest takeover of the year.

S&P Global announced that it would acquire IHS Markit, based in London, for about $44 billion in an all-stock deal.

Data collection has become pivotal on Wall Street as algorithms and high-speed trading drive global markets. And growth has been explosive for the companies that can provide that information instantly and in bulk.

IHS and Markit merged just four years ago to create a $13 billion company. The company has almost tripled in value since then and is now worth close to $37 billion.