Item 5.02 - Chief Operating Officer Departure: Christopher Isaacson, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, notified the company on January 26, 2026 of his intention to retire effective March 6, 2026, with no disagreement cited as the reason for departure. Consulting Services Agreement: Mr. Isaacson will provide consulting services to the company through December 31, 2026 to assist…

Our analysis rates this filing CAUTIOUS. The elevated concern level (6.8/10) reflects a material executive transition at a critical operational position for a regulated exchange operator. The primary concern is the experience gap: while Scott Johnston brings substantial financial markets expertise,…

Concern level: HIGH (6.8/10). Key factors: One high-severity risk identified: COO departure creates operational continuity gap with only 1-day overlap between retiring and incoming executive (severity 7/10); Successor COO lacks exchange operations experience; background primarily in trading/hedge fund operations (Hudson River Trading, Citadel, Akuna Capital) rather than regulated exchange…

Notable risk changes: Chief Operating Officer Christopher Isaacson retiring March 6, 2026 after serving in critical operational role; creates 6-week transition gap before successor Scott Johnston assumes position March 7, 2026; New COO lacks Cboe-specific experience; background primarily in trading operations (Akuna Capital, Hudson River Trading, Citadel) rather than exchange operations, creating onboarding and…

The model predicts CBOE will underperform the S&P 500 by about 0.0% over 30 days (model confidence 65%). This is model analysis for research, not investment advice.