'Change Seats

Members of the New York Stock Exchange last week approved, 782 to 133, their Board of Governors' plan to increase the Exchange membership from 1,100 to 1,375 (TIME, Feb. 4). Since the increase adds 25% to the membership, each present member has a one-fourth interest in a new seat, or, in other words, each present member now owns five-fourths of a membership. The prospective purchaser of an Exchange seat may therefore acquire membership in one of the following three ways:

1) He may arrange with four members to purchase one-fourth of a seat from each.

2) He may purchase from one member that member's entire seat.

3) He may purchase from one member that member's entire seat plus its right to a quarter of an additional seat.

Thus he may buy either four quarters, one whole, or five quarters of a seat.

Price. The last sale prior to the increase in seats was for $625,000. Since the price of a seat will be lowered by the addition of 275 new seats, the $625,000 figure cannot be accepted as standard. The value of the new seats depends (as the value of the old seats depended) on what the buyer is willing to give and what the seller is willing to take. The only price regulation made by the governing board was that bids must be made in multiples of $500.