Son of Big Board Father No Friend to NYSE as Direct Edge CEO

A painting of the New York Stock Exchange in its heyday, depicting men buzzing around trading posts, hangs in the Jersey City office of William O’Brien. An inheritance from his father, it represents a way of life the Direct Edge Holdings LLC chief executive officer has spent a career helping to dismantle.

Now that Direct Edge has completed its merger with Bats Global Markets Inc., the combined company will vie with NYSE to be the biggest operator of U.S. stock exchanges, with both using computer servers instead of all those floor traders. Responding to a Twitter post last month that recalled an 1829 NYSE session that ended with no trading, the 43-year-old O’Brien wrote, “Trying to make this happen again real soon!”