LONDON – London Stock Exchange LSEG 0.08% gain; green up indicates triangle Group PLC bet on financial data. New deal with Microsoft Corp. MSFT -2.55%decrease; red triangle pointing down means it is a big threat to industry leader Bloomberg LP.

Last week, LSEG said it would spend $2.8 billion over the next decade on Microsoft products, mostly on the latter’s cloud services. As part of the deal, Microsoft will acquire a 4 percent stake in LSEG, buying back shares from some of the company’s major existing shareholders.

The company owns mountains of data, thanks in part to all the deals that handle its platforms as well as its $15 billion purchase of financial information and terminals company Refinitiv Holdings Ltd. That purchase, made by consortium Blackstone Inc. BX -1.98%decrease; red down pointing triangle and Thomson Reuters Corp., TRI -0.32%decrease; red down pointing triangle was announced in 2019 and closed last year.