Cnbc exclusive: cnbc excerpt: nasdaq president adena friedman speaks with cnbc's sara eisen on "squawk on the street"

WHEN: Today, Wednesday, September 17th WHERE: CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" Following is an excerpt from the unofficial transcript of a CNBC EXCLUSIVE interview with NASDAQ

President Adena Friedman. Following is a link to the video on CNBC.com: http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000311436. All references must be sourced to CNBC. SARA EISEN: WELL, WHILE THE

NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE PREPARES FOR WHAT COULD BE THE LARGEST U.S. IPO ON FRIDAY, I SPOKE WITH THE NASDAQ'S PRESIDENT ADENA FRIEDMAN WHO RECENTLY CAME BACK TO THE NASDAQ FROM CARLISLE

GROUP WHERE SHE WAS CFO ABOUT LOSING OUT ON THIS BIG OPPORTUNITY. ADENA FRIEDMAN: WE COMPETE FOR EVERY IPO. AND EVERY IPO, WHETHER IT'S A BIG IPO OR A SMALL ONE, WE'RE THERE

COMPETING FOR THE BUSINESS. AND AS YOU KNOW, WE COMPETE FIERCELY WITH NEW YORK. SO IT'S ALWAYS A DISAPPOINTMENT TO LOSE AN IPO. AND ALIBABA IS OBVIOUSLY A BIG COMPANY COMING TO MARKET.

BUT WE OBVIOUSLY SEE THIS AS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR THE MARKETS. AND IF ALIBABA CAN HAVE A STRONG PERFORMANCE, IT CREATES A NICE TAILWIND FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR. SO WE'RE LOOKING

FORWARD TO SEEING HOW THEY DO. WE WISH THEM VERY WELL. AND THEN WE'RE GOING TO HOPEFULLY SEE A GREAT WIN RATE AND A VERY LARGE PIPELINE FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR. EISEN: WHAT WAS THE

PROCESS? I MEAN, OBVIOUSLY YOU PITCHED YOURSELVES HARD TO ALIBABA. FRIEDMAN: WE DID. EISEN: DID YOU MEET WITH JACK MA? I MEAN, HOW CLOSE DID YOU GET? FRIEDMAN: SURE. I MEAN, THE TEAM

DEFINITELY DID EVERYTHING IN THEIR POWER TO TRY TO ATTRACT ALIBABA TO NASDAQ, AS WE DO WITH ALL OF OUR IPOs. AND CERTAINLY THE TEAM MET WITH JACK MA AND THE REST OF THE TEAM. BUT AT THE END

OF THE DAY, IT'S THEIR CHOICE. AND EVERY COMPANY MAKES THEIR OWN INDEPENDENT CHOICE AND HAVE THEIR OWN STORY. AND THEY CHOSE TO GO TO NEW YORK. AND WE CERTAINLY WISH THEM WELL. EISEN:

WELL WE HEAR IT'S THE FACEBOOK DEBACLE FROM 2012 THAT WAS A MAJOR REASON FOR THEM NOT CHOOSING THE NASDAQ. FRIEDMAN: WELL, FIRST OF ALL, ALL OF THEIR CHOICES ARE CONFIDENTIAL. AND SO WE

DON'T TRY TO SPECULATE ON WHAT WAS IT THAT CAUSED THEIR DECISION. BUT AT END OF THE DAY, WE FEEL VERY CONFIDENT THAT WE CAN MANAGE ANY IPO COMING TO OUR MARKET. WE CERTAINLY CONVEYED

THAT CONFIDENCE TO THEM. BUT THEY CAN MAKE THEIR OWN INDEPENDENT CHOICES BASED ON A LOT OF FACTORS I THINK. EISEN: THE BLOCKBUSTER TECHNOLOGY IPOs. I MEAN, IF YOU GO BACK, TRADITIONALLY HAVE

BEEN AT THE NASDAQ. AMAZON, GOOGLE, eBAY, ALL NASDAQ. FACEBOOK. AND THEN IF YOU LOOK AT THE BIGGER ONES LATELY, LINKEDIN, TWITTER, AND NOW ALIBABA, GOING TO YOUR COMPETITOR. YOU HAVE WORK

TO DO WHEN IT COMES TO DEFINING YOURSELF AS THE BIG TECHNOLOGY HUB. FRIEDMAN: WELL I THINK THAT WE TRY TO DEFINE OURSELVES AS A NATURAL HOME FOR ANY COMPANY. AND WE COMPETE FIERCELY ALL THE

TIME FOR EVERY COMPANY TO CHOOSE TO COME TO NASDAQ. AND SO I JUST THINK THAT WHEN WE LOOK AT IT, WE LOOK AT THE ENTIRE – ALL OF THE SECTORS. WE'VE BEEN VERY STRONG IN HEALTH CARE, VERY

STRONG IN TECH AND IN FINANCIAL SERVICES THIS YEAR. SO OUR VIEW IS THAT WE TEND TO ATTRACT COMPANIES FROM EVERY SECTOR, AND WE COMPETE FOR EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. EISEN: WHAT'S THE

PITCH? WHAT IS YOUR EDGE OVER THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE? FRIEDMAN: SURE, I THINK THAT THE FIRST THING IS THAT WE ARE THE MOST GLOBAL EXCHANGE ON THE PLANET. AND IN TERMS OF THE COMPOSITION

OF OUR REVENUE, THE BUSINESSES THAT WE MANAGE, WE HAVE BUSINESS ALL OVER THE WORLD. ASIA, EUROPE, AND THE U.S. SO AS A GLOBAL MARKET, I THINK THAT WE'RE A NATURAL HOME. IN TERMS OF

LOOKING AT US AS COMPANIES THAT HAVE VERY GOOD PEER GROUPS ACROSS THE SECTORS, WE'RE STRONG ACROSS EVERY SECTOR. AND WE CAN SHOW NATURAL PEERS ACROSS ALL OF OUR SECTORS. EISEN: YEAH, I

NOTICED THAT HEALTH CARE WAS NUMBER ONE. THAT SEEMS LIKE A GOOD TARGET. FRIEDMAN: YES. WE'RE A NATURAL HOME FOR A LOT OF HEALTH CARE COMPANIES. EISEN: AND A LOT OF CHINESE COMPANIES.

FRIEDMAN: YES. EISEN: I MEAN THE BIGGEST, BESIDES ALIBABA THIS YEAR, WAS A CHINESE IPO. FRIEDMAN: RIGHT. OF THE 11 IPOs THAT HAVE GONE SO FAR LEADING UP TO THE END OF THIS WEEK, BUT SO FAR,

SEVEN HAVE COME TO NASDAQ. AND THE BIGGEST ONE IS JD.COM HAS COME TO NASDAQ. SO WE HAVE SOME REALLY GREAT WINS IN THE CHINESE COMPANIES AS WELL. AND THEN, SO WE LOOK AT IT AND SAY WE'RE

THE MOST GLOBAL, WE ARE STRONGER ACROSS EVERY SECTOR, AND WE'RE THE BEST VALUE. BECAUSE IN TERMS OF BOTH OUR PRICING BUT ALSO THE SERVICES WE OFFER TO OUR COMPANIES, WE WORK HARD TO

PARTNER WITH OUR COMPANIES. WE GIVE THEM GREAT VISIBILITY IN TIMES SQUARE, GIVE THEM GREAT VISIBILITY IN TERMS OF MARKETING ACCESS. BUT WE ALSO PROVIDE THEM A SET OF TOOLS THAT WE OWN, WE

OPERATE THAT HELP THEM BECOME BETTER PUBLIC COMPANIES IN TERMS OF INVESTOR RELATION SERVICES, PR SERVICES. AND THAT REALLY DOES DISTINGUISH US. EISEN: DO YOU EXPECT THIS FEVERISH PACE OF IPO

ACTIVITY TO KEEP UP? FRIEDMAN: WE DEFINITELY SEE A VERY STRONG PIPELINE THROUGH THE END OF THE YEAR. AND IT'S REALLY HARD TO PREDICT MORE THAN A FEW MONTHS OUT, BUT CERTAINLY IN THE

ENVIRONMENT THAT WE'RE SEEING AND THE WAY THE MARKETS ARE VERY OPEN, THERE'S A LOT OF MONEY LOOKING TO BE PUT TO WORK. I WOULD SAY THAT WE'RE SEEING A LOT OF COMPANIES REALLY

FOCUSING ON IPO OPPORTUNITIES BECAUSE OF GETTING IN EARLY. I THINK THAT THAT'S SOMETHING THEY'RE REALLY FOCUSED ON RIGHT NOW. AND SO THE PIPELINE IS VERY STRONG. SO WE DO EXPECT A

VERY VIBRANT ENVIRONMENT IN THE FALL. EISEN: WHAT ABOUT YOUR TRAJECTORY? SO INTERESTING THAT YOU'VE BEEN BROUGHT BACK NOW IN JUNE, RETURNING TO THE COMPANY. YOU KNOW THE SPECULATION

THAT YOU'RE NEXT IN LINE TO REPLACE MR. GREIFELD. DO YOU HAVE ANY UPDATE FOR US? FRIEDMAN: WELL, I'VE COME IN TO BE THE PRESIDENT OF A BIG PART OF THE BUSINESS. I MANAGE ALL OF THE

BUSINESSES OTHER THAN THE TRENDS ACTION BUSINESSES. SO IT'S ABOUT 70% OF THE REVENUE. AND I HAVE A HUGE OPPORTUNITY AND FRANKLY A HUGE RESPONSIBILITY IN FRONT OF ME. SO I'M REALLY

FOCUSED ON THAT RIGHT NOW IN TERMS OF BEING THE PRESIDENT OF NASDAQ AND PROVIDING GREAT VALUE TO THE FIRM. EISEN: AND IS THERE ANY INDICATION THAT HE WOULD LEAVE BEFORE HIS CONTRACT IS UP

IN 2017? FRIEDMAN: YOU KNOW, I'VE ALWAYS BEEN A GREAT PARTNER TO BOB. AND WE CONTINUE TO BE GREAT PARTNERS. AND I DON'T TRY TO SPECULATE ON THAT. ABOUT CNBC: With CNBC in the U.S.,

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