CHICAGO, Aug. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Archipelago Holdings, Inc. announced the closing on August 17, 2004 of its initial public offering in which an aggregate of 11,000,000 shares of its common stock were sold by Archipelago and certain stockholders of Archipelago at the initial public offering price of $11.50 per share. Archipelago today announced the closing of the sale of an additional 1,650,000 shares of common stock made to the underwriters after full exercise of their over-allotment option. The over-allotment was comprised of 825,000 shares from Archipelago and 825,000 shares from the selling stockholders, at a price of $11.50 each.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. served as the sole book-runner of the IPO and JPMorgan served as co-lead manager. Bank of America Securities LLC, Credit Suisse First Boston, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch & Co. and Piper Jaffray served as co-managers.

Copies of the prospectus relating to the offering may be obtained from the prospectus department of Goldman, Sachs & Co., 85 Broad Street, New York, NY 10004.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction where such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such state or jurisdiction. Any offer or sale will be made only by means of the written prospectus forming a part of the effective registration statement.

About Archipelago

Archipelago Holdings owns and operates the Archipelago Exchange (ArcaEx). ArcaEx is the first totally open, fully electronic stock exchange to trade in all New York Stock Exchange(R), Nasdaq(R), American Stock Exchange(R) and Pacific Exchange(R) securities. ArcaEx is regulated by the PCX, a registered exchange. The Archipelago ECN, a precursor to ArcaEx, was one of the four original ECNs, formed in December 1996 with Townsend Analytics.

Certain statements in this press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on the Company's current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the statements. There can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Factors that could cause the Company's results to differ materially from current expectations include: general economic and business conditions, industry trends, competitive conditions, regulatory developments and the additional factors and risks contained in the Company's registration statement on Form S-1, as amended.

Archipelago Contacts:
Margaret Nagle -- Press
312-442-7083
Pat Murphy -- Investor Relations
312-442-7005
SOURCE Archipelago Holdings, Inc.
08/19/2004
CONTACT: Margaret Nagle, Press, +1-312-442-7083, or Pat Murphy, Investor Relations, +1-312-442-7005, both for Archipelago Holdings, Inc.
Web site: http://www.archipelago.com