A global event series is coming to Dallas for the first time.
Bloomberg is hosting its inaugural Bloomberg Invest Dallas from Oct. 26-27, the first instance of what the financial information network says will become an annual event. The company launched its Bloomberg Invest event series 10 years ago in New York as its principal investment and finance gathering showcase, and has since expanded the series to new cities. Its first trip to North Texas will be centered on the growing capital markets ecosystem in the region, led by the Texas Stock Exchange, NYSE Texas and Nasdaq Texas, which are all now up and running.
“I’ve done some educating of people around here in New York about why it made sense to come to Dallas,” said Mark Miller, global editor of Bloomberg Live and an alumnus of Southern Methodist University. “There’s been so much activity in the financial sector there, and more importantly for us, this real decentralization in some ways of capital markets. … I don’t think anyone’s talking about Dallas as a replacement of New York; it’s about the expansion of these markets and trading platforms. That to me is what’s interesting, and that’s also an important story for Bloomberg to cover, and that’s why we’re coming to town.”
Local real estate and business mogul Ross Perot Jr., co-chairman of the Carlyle Group David Rubenstein and JPMorgan Chase region chair and “Queen of Y’all Street” Elaine Agather headline the event. Previously announced speakers include TXSE founder and CEO James Lee, President of NYSE Group Lynn Martin, Dallas Mavericks CEO Rick Welts and managing partner and CEO of sports investment group Arctos Ian Charles. Bloomberg Television anchor Dani Burger and Bloomberg Texas Bureau Chief Julie Fine will co-host the event.
The intention is to bring together the exchanges, stock issuers, investors, banks, regulators and market structure leaders contributing to Dallas’ emergence as a capital markets hub.
“One key person that I really wanted on this program is Ross Perot Jr., because his work and the work of Hillwood and the Perot Group, that real estate work and building up the infrastructure is what set the stage, I think, for Dallas emerging as this powerful financial center,” said Miller. “Then, of course, Elaine Agather, she’s an institution in the region. She was when I was there, so having her was important.”
Aside from his primary gig as a billionaire private equity founder, Rubenstein also owns the MLB’s Baltimore Orioles, is an prolific philanthropist and hosts two shows on Bloomberg Television which Miller called “the most entertaining shows” on the network. Miller says the conversation between Perot and Rubenstein will be interesting because Rubenstein is “an idiosyncratic interviewer to say the least.”
Conversations will span a broad range of investment-related topics. Alongside the competition between stock exchanges, this includes the future of private capital markets, why companies are looking to Texas, migration of talent and wealth to Dallas-Fort Worth, opportunities across commercial real estate, data centers and energy, and how to invest in an evolving market environment.
“We’re serving our Bloomberg Terminal clients who have deep knowledge of the markets, but we’re also serving a broader audience across digital and video, who have an interest in business and what’s happening here and in the financial sectors, but aren’t necessarily as steeped in it,” Miller said. “Ideally, we make news on our stage. That’s always the goal of our events: to have conversations that actually lead to something newsworthy.”
Registration is available online. For those who can’t attend in person, events will be live-streamed through the Bloomberg Terminal, Bloomberg.com, and on X, LinkedIn and YouTube via the Bloomberg Live channels.
