Multiple bidders set the tone on the auction floor.

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His likely successor at NYSE Euronext (nyse: NYX - news - people ), Duncan Niederauer, is a fellow Goldman alum who has expressed disdain for floor brokers--another sign the ever-shrinking auction floor of the Big Board is giving way to NYSE's electronic systems.

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The NYSE has been under pressure to become more of an electronic-trading model and ditch its centuries-old floor auction model.

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