Ex-Gain Capital CEO pays $1M for bankrupt Money.Net assets

Glenn Stevens, the former CEO of Bedminster, NJ-based broker Gain Capital, has acquired the assets of Money.Net, the budget data workstation provider that recently filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, for just over $1 million.

The deal, which closed at the end of May, includes Money.Net’s software platform and intellectual property, as well as contracts with suppliers and existing clients. Under the arrangement, Stevens assumes the obligation to pay outstanding amounts owed to companies that provided data, technology and other services to Money.Net, totaling almost $1,165,000. Among the largest amounts, Money.Net owed Vela Trading Systems more than $180,000; it owed Xignite more than $90,000; and it owed Dataminr more than $66,000.

However, the bankruptcy court documents specifically note that the “Buyer shall not be liable for any claims against the Debtor or any of its predecessors or affiliates,” meaning that Stevens will not face a continuation of a lawsuit brought against Money.Net by previous investors.

According to the bankruptcy court documents, Stevens agreed to pay $1,075,000 for the assets, but a source familiar with the bankruptcy says the total price tag—including the asset purchase and assuming the debts owed by Money.Net—could be close to $1.6 million.

The workstation provider reported revenue of $680,473 for this year, up to its bankruptcy filing on April 15. The vendor also disclosed revenues of $2,229,694 in 2020, down from $2,457,328 in 2019.

Stevens’ plans for Money.Net are as-yet unknown. However, after 20 years as CEO of Gain Capital, Stevens has spent the past year serving as CEO of the broker’s retail division, following Gain’s acquisition by StoneX (formerly INTL FC Stone), so it’s possible that he may choose to focus the product on a more retail- or wealth management-oriented audience.

“My bet is that Mr Stevens will be an even wealthier man someday, if he gets this right,” says one source with knowledge of the Money.Net platform. “I would focus on the wealth market for starters. Take out any old Thomson One terminals that are still out there. Focus on equities first, build APIs so users can pull data into Excel, then start to get into the fixed income markets—not just fixed income pricing, but all exotic instruments and calculators. That’s where the real money is, and where Bloomberg and Refinitiv have a real stranglehold. There’s a lot to do within those steps—it’s just a matter of knowing how to put those pieces together.”

Once it gains a foothold in the wealth space, the vendor could target brokerage firms with large wealth management businesses, then seek to expand usage throughout those firms’ other business areas, where Money.Net had struggled to gain traction with banks previously.

“Why wouldn’t the big banks and brokerages want more competition to help bring their costs down?” the source says. “You’re not going to put Bloomberg out of business, but you could make a dent.”

Neither Stevens nor the Gain retail division responded to requests for comment for this article.

So far, the only visible change to the Money.Net website is the removal of former CEO Morgan Downey and former CFO Janet Christofano from the “Management Team” section of the site. Their bios have been replaced with the message “Coming Soon.”