Thomson Reuters
Encyclopedia
Thomson Corporation
The Thomson Corporation was one of the world's largest information companies.Thomson was active in financial services, healthcare sectors, law, science & technology research, and tax & accounting sectors...
's purchase of Reuters Group
Reuters Group
Reuters Group plc was a multinational media and financial information company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It merged with The Thomson Corporation in 2008, forming Thomson Reuters....
on 17 April 2008. Thomson Reuters is headquartered at 3 Times Square
3 Times Square
3 Times Square, also known as the Thomson Reuters Building, is a 32 floor skyscraper in the Times Square district of Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. Located on 7th Avenue between 42nd Street and 43rd Street, the building was part of the large 42nd Street redevelopment project....
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, USA. The Woodbridge Company
The Woodbridge Company
The Woodbridge Company Limited is a Canadian private holding company and the principal and controlling shareholder of Thomson Reuters...
, a holding company for the Thomson family of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, owns 53% of the group, which operates in 100 countries, and has over 55,000 employees. Thomson Reuters was ranked as Canada's "leading corporate brand" in the 2010 Interbrand Best Canadian Brands ranking. Thomson Reuters operates in two divisions: Professional and Markets.
The Thomson Corporation
The Company was founded by Roy ThomsonRoy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet
Roy Herbert Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet GBE was a Canadian newspaper proprietor and media entrepreneur.-Career:...
in 1934 in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
as the publisher of The Timmins Daily Press. In 1953 Thomson acquired the Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
newspaper and moved to Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
the following year. He consolidated his media position in Scotland in 1957 when he won the franchise
Government-granted monopoly
In economics, a government-granted monopoly is a form of coercive monopoly by which a government grants exclusive privilege to a private individual or firm to be the sole provider of a good or service; potential competitors are excluded from the market by law, regulation, or other mechanisms of...
for Scottish Television
Scottish Television
Scottish Television is Scotland's largest ITV franchisee, and has held the ITV franchise for Central Scotland since 31 August 1957. It is the second oldest ITV franchisee still active...
. In 1959 he bought the Kemsley Group, a purchase that eventually gave him control of the Sunday Times. He separately acquired the Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
in 1967. He moved into the airline business in 1965, when he acquired Britannia Airways
Britannia Airways
Britannia Airways was the largest charter airline in the United Kingdom, rebranded as Thomsonfly in 2005. Its main bases were Gatwick, London Luton, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow...
and into oil and gas exploration in 1971 when he participated in a consortium to exploit reserves in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. In the 1970s, following the death of Lord Thomson
Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet
Roy Herbert Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet GBE was a Canadian newspaper proprietor and media entrepreneur.-Career:...
, the Company withdrew from media selling the Times, the Sunday Times and Scottish Television and instead moved into publishing, buying Sweet & Maxwell
Sweet & Maxwell
Sweet & Maxwell is a British publisher specialising in legal publications. It joined the Associated Book Publishers in 1969; ABP was purchased by the Thomson Organization in 1987, and is now part of Thomson Reuters. Its British group includes W. Green in Scotland and Round Hall in Ireland...
in 1987. In 1989, Thomson Newspapers was merged with The Thomson Corporation. In 1996 The Thomson Corporation effectively doubled its size and ensured future profitability by purchasing West Publishing, a purveyor of legal research and solutions including Westlaw
Westlaw
Westlaw is one of the primary online legal research services for lawyers and legal professionals in the United States and is a part of West. In addition, it provides proprietary database services...
.
Reuters Group
The Company was founded by Paul Julius ReuterPaul Reuter
Paul Julius Freiherr von Reuter was a German entrepreneur and later naturalized British citizen...
in 1851 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
as a business transmitting stock market quotations. Reuter set up his "Submarine Telegraph" office in October 1851 and negotiated a contract with the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
to provide stock prices from the continental exchanges in return for access to London prices, which he then supplied to stockbrokers in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. In 1865, Reuters in London was the first organization to report the assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
. The company was involved in developing the use of radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
in 1923. It was acquired by the British National & Provincial Press in 1941 and first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1984. Reuters began to grow rapidly in the 1980s, widening the range of its business products and expanding its global reporting network for media, financial and economic services: key product launches included Equities 2000 (1987), Dealing 2000-2 (1992), Business Briefing (1994), Reuters Television for the financial markets (1994), 3000 Series (1996) and the Reuters 3000 Xtra
Reuters 3000 Xtra
Reuters 3000 Xtra is an electronic trading platform typically used by professional traders and investment analysts in trading rooms. It provides real time streaming price date on exchange traded stocks, warrants, options, futures, indices, bonds, commodities and foreign currencies as well...
service (1999).
Post acquisition
The Thomson Corporation acquired Reuters Group PLC to form Thomson Reuters on April 17, 2008. Thomson Reuters operated under a dual-listed companyDual-listed company
A dual-listed company or DLC is a corporate structure in which two corporations function as a single operating business through a legal equalization agreement, but retain separate legal identities and stock exchange listings...
(“DLC”) structure and had two parent companies, both of which were publicly listed — Thomson Reuters Corporation and Thomson Reuters PLC. In 2009 it unified its dual listed company structure and stopped its listing on the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
and NASDAQ
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
. It is now listed only as Thomson Reuters Corporation on the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
and Toronto Stock Exchange
Toronto Stock Exchange
Toronto Stock Exchange is the largest stock exchange in Canada, the third largest in North America and the seventh largest in the world by market capitalisation. Based in Canada's largest city, Toronto, it is owned by and operated as a subsidiary of the TMX Group for the trading of senior equities...
(symbol: TRI).
In June 2008 it was reported that it would be launching a news channel to rival Bloomberg
Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg L.P. is an American privately held financial software, media, and data company. Bloomberg makes up one third of the $16 billion global financial data market with estimated revenue of $6.9 billion. Bloomberg L.P...
and CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
. This has turned out to be a false report as Thomson Reuters is not entering into an already crowded cable business.
Operations
The Chief Executive OfficerChief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of the combined company is Tom Glocer
Tom Glocer
Tom Glocer is the CEO of Thomson Reuters and former CEO of Reuters.-Biography:Glocer joined Reuters Group in 1993 as Vice President and Deputy Counsel, Reuters America...
, who was the Chief Executive of Reuters, and the chairman
Chairman of the Board
The Chairman of the Board is a seat of office in an organization, especially of corporations.Chairman of the Board may also refer to:*Chairman of the Board , a 1998 film*Chairmen of the Board , a 1970s American soul music group...
is David Thomson
David Thomson, 3rd Baron Thomson of Fleet
David Kenneth Roy Thomson, 3rd Baron Thomson of Fleet is a Canadian media magnate. He is the son of the late Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet and his siblings are actress Taylor Thomson and Peter Thomson...
, who was the chairman of Thomson.
The Company is organized into two divisions:
- Markets Division:
- Financial Professionals & Marketplaces
- Enterprise Solutions
- Media
- Professional Division:
- Legal – formerly North American Legal and Legal & Regulatory; including West, makers of WestlawWestlawWestlaw is one of the primary online legal research services for lawyers and legal professionals in the United States and is a part of West. In addition, it provides proprietary database services...
, and Carswell - Healthcare & Science – formerly Thomson HealthcareThomson HealthcareThomson Healthcare was one of the five operating divisions of the Thomson Corporation unitl 2008. Following the merger of Thomson with Reuters to form Thomson Reuters in 2008, it became the healthcare business unit of the new company....
and Thomson ScientificThomson ScientificThomson Scientific was one of the five operating divisions of The Thomson Corporation until 2008. Following the merger of Thomson with Reuters to form Thomson Reuters in 2008, it became the Scientific business unit of the new company. In 2009, the Scientific business came together with the... - Tax & Accounting – formerly Thomson Tax & Accounting
- Legal – formerly North American Legal and Legal & Regulatory; including West, makers of Westlaw
Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: TRI) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: TRI).
Market position and antitrust review
The transaction was reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice and by the European CommissionEuropean Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
. On February 19, 2008, both the Department of Justice and the Commission cleared the transaction subject to minor divestments. The Department of Justice required the parties to sell copies of the data contained in the following products: Thomson's WorldScope, a global fundamentals product; Reuters Estimates, an earnings estimates product; and Reuters Aftermarket (Embargoed) Research Database, an analyst research distribution product. The proposed settlement further requires the licensing of related intellectual property, access to personnel, and transitional support to ensure that the buyer of each set of data can continue to update its database so as to continue to offer users a viable and competitive product. The European Commission imposed similar divestments: according to the Commission's press release, "the parties committed to divest the databases containing the content sets of such financial information products, together with relevant assets, personnel and customer base as appropriate to allow purchasers of the databases and assets to quickly establish themselves as a credible competitive force in the marketplace in competition with the merged entity, re-establishing the pre-merger rivalry in the respective fields."
These remedies are viewed as very minor given the scope of the transaction. According to the Financial Times, "the remedy proposed by the competition authorities will affect no more than $25m of the new Thomson Reuters group’s $13bn-plus combined revenues."
The transaction was cleared by the Canadian Competition Bureau.
In November 2009, The European Commission opened formal anti-trust proceedings against Thomson Reuters concerning a potential infringement of the EC Treaty's rules on abuse of a dominant market position (Article 82). The Commission will investigate Thomson Reuters' practices in the area of real-time market datafeeds, and in particular whether customers or competitors are prevented from translating Reuters Instrument Codes (RICs) to alternative identification codes of other datafeed suppliers (so-called 'mapping') to the detriment of competition.
The opening of proceedings does not imply that the Commission has proof of an infringement. It signifies that the Commission will conduct an in-depth investigation of the case as a matter of priority.
Purchase process
Historically, no single individual has been permitted to own more than 15% of Reuters, under the first of the Reuters Principles, which states, "Reuters shall at no time pass into the hands of any one interest, group or faction." However, that restriction was waived for the purchase by Thomson, whose family holding company, the Woodbridge Company currently owns 53% of the enlarged business. Robert Peston, business editor at BBC NewsBBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, stated that this has worried Reuters journalists, both because they are concerned that Reuters' journalism business will be marginalized by the financial data provision business of the combined company, and because of the threat to Reuters's reputation for unbiased journalism by the appearance of one majority shareholder. Pehr Gyllenhammar
Pehr G. Gyllenhammar
Pehr Gustaf Gyllenhammar is a Swedish businessman. He is mainly known for his 24 years as CEO and chairman of Volvo, between 1970 and 1994. In the early 1980s he took the initiative for the European Round Table of Industrialists .-Career:Gyllenhammar graduated from Lund University with a degree in...
, chairman of the Reuters Founders Share Company, explained that the Reuters Trust's First Principle had been waived for the Thomson family because of the poor financial circumstances that Reuters had been in, stating, "The future of Reuters takes precedence over the principles. If Reuters were not strong enough to continue on its own, the principles would have no meaning." He stated, not having met David Thomson but having discussed the matter with Geoff Beattie, the president of Woodbridge, that the Thomson family had agreed to vote as directed by the Reuters Founders Share Company on any matter that the trustees might deem to threaten the five principles of the Reuters Trust. Woodbridge will be allowed an exemption from the First Principle as long as it remains controlled by the Thomson family.
Acquisitions
In July 2009 Thomson Reuters acquired Streamlogics. Founded in 1999, Streamlogics is a leading provider of customizable, high volume, real time data mining solutions for hundreds of enterprises across several verticals including financial services, technology and health care/life sciences. Streamlogics' webcasting solutions are used for training and certification, marketing and lead generation, and corporate communications.In August 2009 Thomson Reuters bought Vhayu Technologies. Vhayu is one of the world's leading providers of tick
Commodity tick
Futures exchanges establish a minimum amount that the price of a commodity can fluctuate upward or downward. This minimum fluctuation is known as a tick or commodity tick...
data services, and Thomson Reuters had been distributing its Velocity product under the Reuters Tick Capture Engine label for the four years prior to the acquisition.
On September 21, 2009, Thomson Reuters bought Hugin Group
Hugin Group
The Hugin Group distributes full-text, unedited News releases from companies around the world. With a focus on European newswire distribution to the news media , Hugin has strategic relationships with partners in the US and in Asia -Business:Hugin distributes both Investor Relations and more...
, the European IR
Investor relations
Investor Relations is a strategic management responsibility that integrates finance, communication, marketing and securities law compliance to enable the most effective two-way communication between a company, the financial community, and other constituencies, which ultimately contributes to a...
and PR
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
distribution group, from NYSE Euronext. Terms have not been disclosed, but it has been reported in Danish newspapers that the price was between €40 million and €42m.
In November 2009 The Tax & Accounting business acquired Sabrix, Inc, a leading global provider of transaction tax management software applications and related services.
In February 2010 Thomson Reuters acquired Aegisoft LLC to improve their electronic trading capabilities by offering Direct Market Access
Direct Market Access
Direct market access ' is a term used in financial markets to describe electronic trading facilities that give investors wishing to trade in financial instruments a way to interact with the order book of an exchange. Normally, trading on the order book is restricted to broker-dealers and market...
.
In May 2010 Thomson Reuters acquired Point Carbon A/S, a Norwegian company that provides news and trading analytics for the energy and environmental markets.
In October 2010, Thomson Reuters acquired Serengeti Law, a matter management and ebilling system.
In November 2010, Thomson Reuters acquired the legal process outsourcing (LPO) provider Pangea3
Pangea3
Pangea3 is a legal outsourcing services provider with headquarters in New York City and Mumbai, India. Pangea3 provides legal services and intellectual property services to in-house counsel in U.S., European and Japanese corporations and attorneys in international law firms...
. Pangea3 serves corporate legal departments and law firms worldwide. Financial Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In November 2010, Thomson Reuters acquired the banking data and analytic provider, Highline Financial.
Sponsorships
Thomson Reuters has sponsored Canadian golf champion Mike WeirMike Weir
Michael Richard Weir, CM, O.Ont is a Canadian professional golfer on the PGA Tour. He spent over 110 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings between 2001 and 2005. He is best known for winning the Masters in 2003....
and the AT&T Williams
WilliamsF1
Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, trading as AT&T Williams, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded and run by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head...
Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
team. It also sponsors Marketplace
Marketplace (radio program)
Marketplace is a radio program that focuses on business, the economy, and events that influence them. Hosted by Kai Ryssdal, the show is produced and distributed by American Public Media, in association with the University of Southern California...
, a radio show from American Public Media
American Public Media
American Public Media is the second largest producer of public radio programs in the United States of America after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and operates radio stations in Minnesota, California, and Florida. Its station brands are Minnesota Public Radio,...
.