Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The 2015 annual meeting of the stockholders of NASDAQ OMX Group is hereby convened and called to order. My name is Börje Ekholm. I'm the chairman of Nasdaq Board and the chairman of this meeting. On behalf of the board of directors of Nasdaq, welcome to this annual meeting of stockholders. I'm pleased to introduce to you the individuals at the head table. We have Bob Greifeld, Chief Executive Officer. We have Lee Shavel, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy. We have Ed Knight, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Chief Regulatory Officer. We have Joan Conley, Senior Vice President and Corporate Secretary. Members of the Nasdaq Board and executive management are also in attendance at this meeting. Before we continue with our program, I want to provide a few remarks about the good progress Nasdaq continues to make.
Last year, Nasdaq delivered record net revenues and non-GAAP income, driven by strong organic growth and strong execution across all of the business segments. Investing in R&D and innovation is at the top of many company agendas today. So also for Nasdaq. One good example of Nasdaq's commitment to innovation is the Nasdaq Private Market, NPM. Launched in 2014, this initiative provides a range of capital management solutions for private companies. Another example is that in 2014, Nasdaq partnered with industry players and laid the groundwork for its new energy futures market, NFX, which will launch later this year. Investments in organic growth often hurt short-term profitability, and not all initiatives will succeed, of course. We believe that these are attractive investments in long-term profitable growth of our business. In addition to pursuing organic opportunities, Nasdaq worked hard on integrating two key acquisitions.
In order to make eSpeed more competitive, Nasdaq has enhanced the product and upgraded the technology. We believe that we are now well-positioned when the volume in the treasury market starts to pick up. Similarly, the corporate solution offers a full product suite of IR, PR, and multimedia products for our customers. Upgraded platforms are scheduled for launch later this year. Talent is also an essential part of Nasdaq, and you have all noted that last year, Nasdaq modified the leadership structure by creating a new president role for Hans-Ole Jochumsen and for Adena Friedman. At the end of the day, our fundamental mission is to create value for our shareholders. You see it, for example, in the disciplined approach to capital management, in the investments Nasdaq is making in R&D and future innovation, and in the way it works with enterprise risk control.
Finally, the reason we are here today is engagement with you, our stockholders. We welcome your perspectives, and we appreciate the feedback we receive. We continue to consider you to be a valuable part of this company and of our future. Now, to move this stockholder meeting forward, I have already introduced the individuals up here, but also present are representatives of Broadridge Financial Solutions, the Inspector of Elections, and executives of Ernst & Young. Better check what it says here. The executives of Ernst & Young, and the corporate secretary, have certified that the stockholders are eligible to vote at this meeting. Now we will continue with the meeting formalities. I will turn over to Ed Knight to make the report of the legal counsel. Ed?
Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome, everyone. Formalities, as our chairman indicated. One, I present proof by affidavit that notice of the meeting has been duly given and that a notice of internet availability of proxy materials has been made on March 27th, to every stockholder of record as of March 10th. As of March 10th, there were 169,188,070 shares of Nasdaq common stock outstanding, of course, subject to the voting limitation in our certificate of incorporation that generally prohibits a holder from voting in excess of 5% of the total voting power of Nasdaq. I also report that the board of directors has appointed Broadridge Financial Solutions to act as the inspector of the election at this meeting and any adjournments hereof, and to count and examine all votes.
The Inspector of Election has filed with me an oath of inspector and a report of inspector that, Mr. Chairman, a quorum is present at this meeting.
Thank you, Mr. Knight. There being a quorum present, we will proceed with the business of the annual meeting. As you entered the room, you should have received an agenda and a set of meeting rules, which will govern the meeting. As the agenda notes, there are five matters for consideration by the stockholders. No other business will be presented at this meeting, although time has been set aside for a question and answer session at the end. At an appropriate time, those stakeholders who wish to address the meeting will be provided an opportunity to speak and will be recognized by the chairman. If there are any stockholders or proxy holders present who have completed proxies and have not delivered them, please do so at this time. Stockholders may deliver their proxies to the table marked Inspector of Election.
With that, I'd like to call upon Bob Greifeld to provide a few remarks.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's certainly my great pleasure to be here. I think it's especially pleasing to be here in our newly renovated market site, which we're putting to good use for obviously ourselves and for others. As CEO of Nasdaq, a lot will cross my desk in a given period of time. I think the challenge you really have is to stick to your game plan and knowing what will move the business forward with the greatest effect. To that end, it's my belief that over the years, we have become very proficient here at Nasdaq in honing in on what matters most and on executing our game plan very well.
In addition to our financial results, perhaps more importantly, we place a premium on our relative competitive position in the marketplaces in which we serve and the level of value we deliver for our customers. The good news is that over the past year, the vast majority of our businesses are in a better competitive position today than a year ago. That is which we are most proud. In addition, the financial results follow. In 2014, we again delivered record financial performance with net revenues reaching just over $2 billion, a 9.1% increase over the previous year. In addition, we pursued a very disciplined capital management program. Right, Lee?
Yes.
We returned $276 million in value to our shareholders, comprised of $178 million in repurchased stock and $98 million in paid dividends. We now are more diverse as a business than ever before. This gives us a great advantage where we can operate really in a complementary way and allows us to leverage a wide variety of opportunities. As an example, we saw the best IPO market in over a decade in 2014, and we capitalized on that with a 60% win rate of all IPOs in the U.S. In all, we welcomed 189 total IPOs, which raised over $22 billion, a truly impressive performance. We also never stop looking at how we can better serve the companies that list on our markets, whether it's enhancements to our IPO cross process or renovating the market site we're sitting in here today.
Our clients are the first among equals. Our value proposition continues to resonate with them. This year, the IPO market promises to be equally as robust. I think today in particular, we have a number of IPOs scheduled. We're off to a good start. In 2014, our customer focus and ability to lever our technology enabled us to capitalize on improving volume in the markets. A key driver in this was our successful expansion of the functionally important areas in our trading platforms. This contributed to market share increases and a 17% higher net cash equity revenue during the year. I do remember the time when people were concerned that cash equities capture would go to zero, and it's great to see it increasing.
Equally impressive is the fact that our U.S. derivatives business finished the year with a leading market share in both equity derivatives and ETP options. This was for the fifth year in a row. Again, very impressive. We also continue to invest in technology and platforms that will drive opportunities for both us and our customers. eSpeed, our fixed income platform for U.S. Treasuries, is one example. In 2014, we embarked on an aggressive product expansion. We launched new products such as electronic T-bills and short duration bond notes. We feel very good about these product enhancements we have in our pipeline to date and our ability to grow this platform in the future. As I mentioned previously, one of the benefits of our overall model is that we are diverse. This diversity will drive opportunity.
In 2014, we made equally strong progress across our non-transaction-based businesses, which helped deliver on our success. In our market technology business, for example, we have the ability to lever our scale and expertise to expand our customers' capability more quickly and efficiently. Our market technology segment grew by 5% over the year, actually 10% if you exclude FX headwinds. We expanded key partnerships with clients. We're most proud of that aspect of the business. When you look at our relationships that we expanded with the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the Philippine Stock Exchange, and the Japan Exchange Group, JPX, truly remarkable. We also ended the year with a record order backlog of $704 million. Great progress. In our corporate solutions by making operational improvements and enhancements to our product and service offerings.
In this regard, our IR NextGen platform initiative has been the core focus. We are getting ready to release the beta version later this year to our customers. So far, the feedback has truly been impressive. It's exciting for us. We're confident that NextGen and the other enhancements we are making across our product portfolio will drive new opportunities for us. Our information services business is one of the foundational businesses at Nasdaq. It encompasses both data and indices. In 2004, our index business grew revenue by 22%. We expanded the product offering and increased the products licensed by 12%. Our recent acquisition of Dorsey, Wright & Associates, which is performing well above expectations, will enable us to further develop and grow this cornerstone business. Listening to our clients and making sure we're focused on their activities is central to what we do.
One of the ways we facilitate this endeavor is through our research and development program, which internally we call GIFT. One of the more important efforts we launched in 2014 was Nasdaq Private Market. Our offerings help private companies address their liquidity needs and identify and manage relationships with their shareholders. There are now more than 60 companies using NPM products. It's the early days, but we consider this one of the more innovative undertakings at Nasdaq today and certainly indicative of our mindset to make sure we're adding value in the marketplace. Bringing greater efficiency and competition to markets has always been something that's a sweet spot for us. To this end, we continue to invest in the opportunities that we believe will be successful and leverage our core capabilities. Last year, we continued to make progress with NLX, our interest rate derivatives platform based in London.
We made significant efficiency improvements and are also excited by the progress we are making with leading industry participants to become true partners in this venture with us. Another example of this commitment to investing in initiatives that drive value for our customers and shareholders is NFX. While we laid much of the groundwork in 2014 for NFX, we recently announced that we'll launch this market later this year, pending regulatory approval. This is an innovative response in a market that has been dominated by two leading incumbents. We believe that a horizontal and more open clearing model coupled with our technology will bring much-needed capital efficiencies to market participants. We certainly feel good in our ability to succeed. As you can see by the few examples I highlighted here today, 2014 was a tremendous year for this franchise.
Our ambition is to better serve our clients, that has never been greater. The new brand we introduced last year showcases our client-centric focus around the theme of ambition. Perhaps what's most interesting to me about 2014 is that we formed new starting points, new baselines for this organization to grow from. Based on the performance over the last year, I have every confidence in our management team, the 3,800 employees who work with us, and the ability to continue to deliver meaningful growth and returns for our shareholders. I appreciate your time, and I do look forward to taking your questions.
Thank you, Bob. With that, we will now proceed with the five proposals described in the proxy statement. Proposal one is to elect the 11 directors for a one-year term. The names and bios of the 11 nominees are detailed in the proxy. Under proposal two, stockholders are requested to approve the company's executive compensation on an advisory basis. Proposal number three, the stockholders are requested to ratify the appointment of Ernst & Young as Nasdaq's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2015. In proposal number four, it is to amend and restate the company's executive incentive plan. Proposal number five is to consider the stockholder proposal entitled Right to Act by Written Consent.
Here, I will invite Mr. Kenneth Steiner of Great Neck, N.Y., or his representative to present the stockholder proposal within the three-minute time frame set forth in the meeting rules. Please, Mr. Steiner. Is he here?
Unfortunately, Mr. Steiner has indicated he is ill, and Mr. Chevedden was going to send a representative at the last minute. I invite his representative, if he or she is present, to make that proposal. The proposal 5 is contained in the proxy material. Anyone has any questions, we'd be happy to answer them on behalf of Mr. Steiner and Mr. Chevedden.
It seems like we are set to move forward. Okay. We will proceed to vote on these matters. Stockholders who wish to vote in person should now take a ballot. Seems like there are no hands up or no one's missing one. It is now 9:21 here in N.Y. We will open the polls, and they will remain open for, I suggest, a minute. Last year, we took five minutes, and that felt like an eternity. A lot of activity. You will be happy to find out it's gone 40 seconds now. Just 20 remaining. The polls are about to close. If there are any stockholders who have not turned in a ballot and wish to do so at this time, please raise your hand so we can come and pick it up. I don't see any hands coming up.
The time is now 9:22 A.M., and the polls are closed. No further voting shall be permitted. With that, we can move into question and answer sessions. We will take a few questions if there are any. Please raise your hand and wait to be recognized. The microphone attendants will assist with the use of the microphones. Remarks should be pertinent and as brief as possible, and not more than three minutes, please. Upon being recognized, please state your full name, firm or affiliation, city and country, and the subject you wish to discuss. Let's see if there are any questions.
Hi. Chris Lafayette with The Clark Estates. Question on capital allocation. Acquisitions have always been a big component of your capital allocation. I was wondering if you guys could speak a little bit to past acquisitions and what you've learned from them and how they impact your thinking on future acquisitions. You've done acquisitions in all your different segments. Has history led you to consider certain segments as better opportunities for future acquisitions? Maybe you could just speak a little bit about the future and thoughts on acquisitions.
Right. I'll start then, Lee, you can chime in. One, with respect to acquisitions, we have a couple disciplines, some financial, some non-financial. The first is we have to make sure that the acquired company is able to lever the mothership in some fundamental way. That really keeps us focused in terms of what's core and how we can grow this business in a logical fashion. The second is we believe it has to provide a return, not just in the absolute sense, but in a time sense. We need to get the return sooner, because anytime you do an acquisition, you are trying to model the future. The one thing we know for sure, the future will always be different than we have in our model.
To the extent you're saying, "I'm going to get the return within 12 months," then you've got a higher probability of getting the next 12 months right with respect to what you think will happen, versus if you're saying 18 months, 24 months, to us, 36 months is almost impossible. The world can change so many ways. We use that as two leading guideposts of what we want to do. We've always been cynical with respect to acquisitions and revenue growth, and revenue synergies. Expense synergies, we feel pretty comfortable that we can narrow in on that pretty quickly. The revenue side is more art than science.
What I would add to that is, from an overall capital management standpoint, being a business that generates substantial capital, we have a return on invested capital discipline for all uses of capital. On a regular basis, we review the allocation between internal investments, as Bob has described in our research and development program, external uses of capital, whether it's mergers and acquisitions or share repurchases, and we evaluate the potential returns to help guide our decision-making with the objective of generating the highest possible return. Beyond that, we then monitor each of our acquisitions on an ongoing basis and report to the board on the performance of those to determine how they're performing and what steps we can take in order to optimize the returns. It is part of our overall capital management process.
I'll just finish on one note. We mentioned, obviously, acquisitions, when you look at our strategies, it's really multi-pronged. We've been an aggressive buyer of our shares over the last number of years. You obviously saw that we increased our dividend by 66%. Also, we've been an aggressive investor in our future through our R&D program. We have the good fortune of strong businesses that have tremendous free cash flow. We're able to basically serve multiple masters, acquiring, investing, and returning, and we're proud of what we've done.
Thank you. Let's see if there are some more questions. We move on in our agenda, and I will call upon Beth Van Der Beck to announce the preliminary results at this point in time. Please.
Mr. Chairman, the preliminary results of the shareholder vote indicate that all the company's nominees as director were elected to another term, that proposals 2 through 4 were approved, and proposal five was not approved.
Thank you. This concludes the official business portion of our meeting. I want to thank everyone for attending today's meeting and for the interest you have shown in the affairs of Nasdaq. Since there is nothing further to come before this meeting, I will declare the meeting adjourned as of 9:27. Thank you