Jean-François Théodore, chief executive of Euronext, is sitting on a paper profit of almost €7m ($8.9m) from his holdings in the exchange, after the share price more than tripled in two years.

Théodore exercised 100,849 options in 2004 at €5.69 each. His shares are worth €6.9m after the shares closed at the end of last week at €68.25. However, Théodore's holding is worth about €1m less than a few weeks ago following the sharp sale of stock exchange shares after a disappointing offer last week from the New York Stock Exchange to buy Euronext.