New Records in Average Daily Volume, NYSE Composite Index and Seat Prices
New Listings Outpace 2004 Level

NEW YORK, Dec. 23, 2005 – While the NYSE’s April 20 announcement and
overwhelming Member approval of the merger with Archipelago Holdings Inc. (PCX:
AX) dominated the news of the market in 2005, the Exchange achieved several new
performance benchmarks that contributed to its growth and position as the
world’s leading and most successful equities market.

NYSE-Archipelago Merger
* On April 20, the NYSE announced its merger with Archipelago Holdings
Inc. Through the merger, the NYSE will become a publicly-traded, for-profit
company for the first time in its 213-year history.
* The merger will better serve customers and support the growth of the
Exchange, providing a diverse platform for the trading of listed and
over-the-counter equities, fixed-income products, options, and other derivative products,
as well as offering a listing platform for companies that do not meet NYSE
listing standards.
* At a Special Membership meeting on Dec. 6, over 95% of votes cast by
NYSE Members were in favor of the merger with Archipelago Holdings Inc.
* Since the announcement of the merger, NYSE seat prices increased to
historic highs, quadrupling from a low of $975,000 on Jan. 11 to a new all-time
high of $4 million late in the year. Year to date, 85 seats were sold, compared
to 30 in 2004. The NYSE seat market will cease to operate at the close of
business on Friday, Dec. 30.
* The merger is scheduled to close in the first quarter of 2006.

New Listings and IPOs
* The total global market capitalization of the NYSE’s 2,775 listed
companies now stands at $21.3 trillion, from $19.8 trillion at the end of 2004,
making the Exchange by far the world’s largest and most valuable equities
market. The market capitalization of the NYSE’s listed companies is greater than
that of the Tokyo Stock Exchange ($4 trillion), Nasdaq ($3.5 trillion), the
London Stock Exchange ($3.0 trillion), Euronext ($2.6 trillion) and Deutsche
Boerse ($1.2 trillion) combined.
* The Exchange attracted 192 new listings year-to-date. The 2005 total
includes the Nov. 30 transfer of 40 iShares exchange-traded funds from the
American Stock Exchange, as well as an additional six exchange-traded funds. In
2004, the Exchange added 165 new listings, which includes 13 exchange-traded
funds. Exchange-traded funds continued to be a strong growth opportunity for the
NYSE in 2005, largely due to their growing popularity with investors. The
streetTRACKS® Gold Shares Trust (GLD), the first gold-based ETF, amassed a net
asset value of more than $2 billion just two months after listing.
* Initial public offerings by U.S. domestic companies, excluding funds,
raised $21 billion, more than 90 percent of all qualified IPO dollars raised.
Including funds, offerings at the NYSE raised $42 billion, four times more than
any other U.S. market.
* U.S. domestic IPOs at the NYSE in 2005 included Huntsman Corp. (HUN),
raising over $1.3 billion; VeriFone, Inc. (PAY) and Dolby Laboratories (DLB).
New U.S. listings in 2005 included Sprint Nextel Corp. (S), Nabors Industries
Ltd. (NBR) and Ameriprise Financial Inc. (AMP).
* Non-U.S. offerings at the NYSE in 2005, including India’s Patni Computer
Systems Ltd. (PTI) and China’s Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (STP), raised
$2.2 billion, or 96% of qualifying non-U.S. IPOs raising money in the United
States. Non-U.S. listings in 2005 included IAMGOLD Corporation (IAG)
and Novelis Inc. (NVL). Nine companies from Canada listed on the NYSE.
* The NYSE continued to be the leading market for non-U.S. companies, with
a total global market capitalization for its 445 non-U.S. companies of $7.7
trillion. The market capitalization of the 17 mainland Chinese companies on the
NYSE increased to $329 billion. With the addition of Patni Computer Systems
Ltd., the NYSE added its ninth listed company from India in 2005.

Trading Activity and Market Quality
* The New York Composite Index (NYA) once again outperformed all other
major index averages, hitting 17 new highs this year. On Dec. 22, the NYA closed
at 7834.04, an increase this year of 7.8%. By comparison, the Dow Jones Indust
rial Average (DJIA) increased by 0.9% to 10889.44, the S&P 500 by 5.0% to
1272.64, and the Nasdaq Composite by 3.5% to 2252.28.
* The NYSE’s average daily trading volume increased to 1.61 billion
shares in 2005, from 1.46 billion shares in 2004. This was highlighted by a new
record volume day of 3.12 billion shares on June 24, followed by a second
3-billion-share day on Sept. 19. In 2005, the NYSE reached total share volume of
over 400 billion shares for the first time, exceeding the previous record in
2004 by 10%.
* The NYSE was the most efficient and competitive venue for trading its
listed stocks, providing investors the best execution prices and best quoted
spreads, and the largest displayed liquidity. This was reflected by the
Exchange's leading market share of 78.7% in its listed stocks during regular trading
hours. That helped it to facilitate the opportunity for optimal price discovery
and establish the best bid or offer 88% of the time. The average dollar value
available for trading at the best price on the Exchange in 2005 was $30,838
for NYSE-listed stocks, compared to $14,856 for Nasdaq-listed stocks traded on
Nasdaq.
* Elkins/McSherry ranked the NYSE among the world's lowest cost venues,
calculating that the average cost of trading an NYSE stock declined from 25.87
basis points in last year’s survey to 23.36 basis points this year. Plexus,
which compares NYSE and Nasdaq trading costs for institutional traders in U.S.
markets, found NYSE execution costs lower in large, medium and small
capitalization stocks. Abel/Noser found the NYSE’s costs lower over time and across all
stock types.
* Abel Noser Corp. - Q1 2005, Elkins/McSherry Global Universe - Q2 2005,
Plexus Group - Q2 2005
* The NYSE’s execution certainty was among the highest of any major
U.S. market in 2005, according to 11Ac1-5 data filed with the SEC; the NYSE
executed 99% of market orders it received. Other market centers’ lower liquidity
resulted in lower fill rates, less execution certainty and higher cancellation r
ates.

Hybrid MarketSM and Technology Highlights
* In December 2005, the Exchange introduced the first phase of the NYSE
Hybrid MarketSM , the Exchange’s new market model that will give customers the
broadest choice of trade-execution services. Additional phases of the initial
pilot program will be rolled out in early 2006.
* In 2005, NYSE Direct+ ™ daily volume grew to 208 million shares a day,
or over 12% of overall NYSE volume, from less than 9% in 2004. Average
execution speed for NYSE Direct+ was 0.36 second.

* NYSE systems capacity expanded from 8,000 to 14,000 messages per second,
in preparation for further growth in customer message traffic.
* The NYSE market was available for trading nearly 100% of the time, in a
year that saw 832 new software releases and 1,217 hardware changes.
* The NYSE upgraded its wireless network to the latest standards,
providing enhanced security and 50 times more throughput for the 800 floor brokers who
rely on it everyday. The new network enables the addition of streaming market
data to the handheld computers.

Community Outreach
* Leading government officials and top policy makers, including U.S.
Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman, U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M.
Gutierrez and U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow, visited the NYSE in 2005, as well as
government leaders from various countries around the world, including Colombia’s
President Alvaro Uribe-Vélez, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, Ukraine’s
President Victor Yuschenko, and Vietnam’s Prime Minister Phan Van KHAI.
* The NYSE Foundation, the private philanthropic foundation established by
the NYSE, donated $1 million in January to support the relief efforts
associated with the South Asia tragedy. The NYSE Foundation also contributed $1.2
million toward relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina, adding to $208,000 in co
ntributions from the Exchange community. In total, the Foundation contributed $4.2
million to support education, quality of life, and community service programs.
A selection of photos highlighting 2005 NYSE visits and events is listed
below for publication.
NYSE CEO John A. Thain shakes hands with Archipelago CEO Jerry Putnam
after announcing the Exchange's acquisition of Archipelago Holdings Inc. (PCX: AX)
during a press conference at the NYSE on April 20, 2005.
High resolution image size: (2.8 MB)
NYSE CEO John A. Thain with Disney character Minnie Mouse after the Walt
Disney Company's NYSE bell ringing ceremony on July 14, 2005, to celebrate the
50th anniversary of Disneyland.

High resolution image size: (3.5 MB)
NYSE CEO John A. Thain with Ameriprise Financial, Inc. Chairman and CEO
James M. Cracchiolo on the NYSE trading floor after the company's first trade on
Oct. 3, when Ameriprise listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “AMP.”

High resolution image size: (5.2 MB)
NYSE CEO John A. Thain with Zhou Xiaochuan, Governor of the People's Bank
of China (PBOC), at the PBOC office in Beijing during Mr. Thain's Asia trip in
October 2005.

High resolution image size: (250k)

Important Acquisition Information With Respect To The Merger
In connection with the proposed merger of the New York Stock Exchange,
Inc. ("NYSE") and Archipelago Holdings, Inc. ("Archipelago"), NYSE Group, Inc.
has filed a registration statement on Form S-4 with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) containing a joint proxy statement/prospectus regarding the
proposed transaction. The parties have filed other publicly available relevant
documents concerning the proposed transaction with the SEC. The SEC declared
the Registration Statement effective on November 3, 2005.

NYSE MEMBERS AND ARCHIPELAGO STOCKHOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE FINAL
JOINT PROXY STATEMENT/ PROSPECTUS REGARDING THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION BECAUSE IT CONTAINS IMPORTANT INFORMATION.

NYSE members and Archipelago stockholders can obtain a free copy of the
final joint proxy statement/prospectus, as well as other filings containing
information about NYSE and Archipelago without charge, at the SEC's website
(http://www.sec.gov). Copies of the final joint proxy statement/prospectus can also
be obtained, without charge, by directing a request to the Office of the
Corporate Secretary, NYSE, 11 Wall Street, New York 10005, 212-656-2061 or to
Archipelago, Attention: Investor Relations, at 100 S. Wacker Drive, Suite 1800,
Chicago, Illinois 60606 or calling (888) 514-7284.
The NYSE, Archipelago and their respective directors and executive
officers and other members of management and employees may be deemed to be
participants in the solicitation of proxies from Archipelago stockholders in respect of
the proposed transaction. Information regarding Archipelago's directors and
executive officers is available in Archipelago's proxy statement for its 2005
annual meeting of stockholders, dated March 31, 2005.
Additional information regarding the interests of such potential
participants is included in the joint proxy statement/prospectus and the other relevant
documents filed with the SEC. This correspondence shall not constitute an
offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall
there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer,
solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under
the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall
be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10
of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this correspondence may contain forward-looking
information regarding the NYSE and Archipelago and the combined company after the
completion of the transactions that are intended to be covered by the safe
harbor for "forward-looking statements" provided by the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, but are not limited to, the
benefits of the business combination transaction involving NYSE and
Archipelago, including future financial and operating results, the new company's plans,
objectives, expectations and intentions and other statements that are not
historical facts. Such statements are based upon the current beliefs and
expectations of NYSE's and Archipelago's management and are subject to significant
risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the
forward-looking statements.
The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ
from those set forth in the forward-looking statements: the ability to obtain
governmental approvals of the transaction on the proposed terms and schedule;
the failure of NYSE members or Archipelago shareholders to approve the
transaction; the risk that the businesses will not be integrated successfully; the
risk that the cost savings and any other synergies from the transaction may not
be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected; disruption from
the transaction making it more difficult to maintain relationships with
customers, employees or suppliers; competition and its effect on pricing, spending,
third-party relationships and revenues; social and political conditions such
as war, political unrest or terrorism; general economic conditions and normal
business uncertainty. Additional risks and factors are identified in
Archipelago's filings with the Securities Exchange Commission, including its Report on
Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2004 which is available on
Archipelago's website at http://www.Archipelago.com, and the Registration
Statement on Form S-4 filed by NYSE Group, Inc. with the SEC on July 21, 2005 (and
amended on September 24, 2005, October 24, 2005 and November 3, 2005).
You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which
speak only as of the date of this document. Except for any obligation to
disclose material information under the Federal securities laws, none of the NYSE,
Archipelago or the combined company after the completion of the transactions
undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to any
forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this
document.