Forge Global Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:FRGE) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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So we’re optimistic but careful about that.

Mark Lee: Hey, Alex, I want to use this moment to just add to my answer to Jeff’s question that I should have mentioned when I think about our competitive advantages, our research and analytics team, which, together with our marketing team, put out the PMU, our Forge Investment Outlook, drive our index products and drive data, I think I didn’t explicitly call out kind of the marketing side and the analytics side of our team. But we think we have capabilities and people there that far surpass our competitors. So I wanted to add that to my earlier answer.

Kelly Rodriques: Yeah. And let me clarify one point I made. When I meant inbound, I meant inbound interest to be sold to Forge, not for any interest in anything else. So this is, I think, my way of saying the market and our competitors view us as a potential place to end up as part of their liquidity future. And we’re going to be really careful about looking at that and being focused on our core strategic priorities, which are institutional and data.

Alex Kramm: Okay. Great. And then just a couple of other follow-ups. One, the data index revenues, I mean anything notable that you can break out yet in terms of how much — I think you’ve said it in the past, so what the run rate is for revenues in that? And then one follow-up, maybe just one last one on the sorting discussion. I know it’s hard to have a forward look, but anything in the quarter you could point to in terms of how the cash balances trended, maybe as the outlook for rates changed. Again, just trying to figure out how the customer base is reacting to the live rate pictures. Thank you.

Mark Lee: Yeah. I don’t really have anything else I think we can add. I mean we do track it very closely. We break it down in great detail, Alex, to try to understand what is happening and what, if any kind of response, we can formulate, but unfortunately, I don’t really have additional detail that I think we can share at this point on the cash sorting question. And then your other question, sorry, was — the first question was…

Alex Kramm: I should have made it a double question. The data index, anything notable in terms of revenue or run rate to talk about yet that you can break out?

Mark Lee: Yeah. We’re still not at the point to break out our data business. I think we do think that it’s a part of our business that we’ll probably provide information on an annual basis at this point in time, Alex. And I think we talked about kind of at least qualitatively what we’re focusing on, on the data side of the business. So I think that’s kind of the extent that our disclosure at this point.

Alex Kramm: All good, just wanted to ask. Thanks guys.

Kelly Rodriques: Thank you.

Dominic Paschel: Thank you, Alex. Kayla, I think we’re ready to end the conference call. Thank you all for joining us today, and we look forward to working and engaging with you before 2024 comes.

Operator: And this concludes today’s conference call. You may now disconnect.

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