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Thomson Reuters
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Key Information
Thomson Reuters Corporation (/ˈrɔɪtərz/ ⓘ ROY-tərz) is a Canadian multinational content-driven technology conglomerate.[4] The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, and maintains its headquarters in the city at 19 Duncan Street.[5]
Thomson Reuters was created by the Thomson Corporation's purchase of the British company Reuters Group on 17 April 2008.[6] It is majority-owned by the Woodbridge Company, a holding company for the Thomson family of Canada.[7]
History
[edit]Thomson Corporation
[edit]
The forerunner of the Thomson company was founded in 1934 by Roy Thomson in Ontario as the publisher of The Timmins Daily Press.[8] In 1953, Thomson acquired the Scotsman newspaper and moved to Scotland the following year. He consolidated his media position in Scotland in 1957, when he won the franchise for Scottish Television. In 1959, he bought the Kemsley Group, a purchase that eventually gave him control of the Sunday Times. He separately acquired the Times in 1967. He moved into the airline business in 1965, when he acquired Britannia Airways, and into oil and gas exploration in 1971, when he participated in a consortium to exploit reserves in the North Sea. Following the death of Thomson, the company withdrew from national newspapers and broadcast media, selling the Times and the Sunday Times to Rupert Murdoch's News International in 1981, and instead moved into publishing, buying Sweet & Maxwell in 1988. The company at this time was known as the International Thomson Organization Ltd (ITOL).[9]
In 1989, ITOL merged with Thomson Newspapers, forming the Thomson Corporation. In 1996, the Thomson Corporation acquired West Publishing, a purveyor of legal research and services (including Westlaw).[10]
Reuters Group
[edit]The company was founded in 1851 by Paul Julius Reuter in London as a business transmitting stock market quotations.[10] Reuter set up his "Submarine Telegraph" office in October 1851 and negotiated a contract with the London Stock Exchange to provide stock prices from the continental exchanges in return for access to London prices, which he then supplied to stockbrokers in Paris.[10] In 1865, Reuters in London was the first organization to report the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.[10] The company was involved in developing the use of radio in 1923.[10] It was acquired by the British National & Provincial Press in 1941, and it first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1984.[10] 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 service (1999).[10]
Thomson acquisition of Reuters
[edit]The Thomson Corporation acquired Reuters Group plc to form Thomson Reuters on 17 April 2008.[11] Thomson Reuters operated under a dual-listed company ("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 and NASDAQ. As of October 2022,[update] it was listed only as Thomson Reuters Corporation on the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange (symbol: TRI).[12][13] On February 13, 2025, the company announced that it would switch its US stock listing to the Nasdaq Global Select Market later that month. The company ceased trading on the NYSE at market close on February 24, 2025, and commenced trading as a Nasdaq-listed security on February 25, 2025.[14] Thomson Reuters was added to the Nasdaq-100 index on July 28, 2025 at the stock market open.[15]
Thomson Reuters was ranked first in Interbrand's 2010 ranking of Canadian corporate brands.[16]
In February 2013, Thomson Reuters announced it would cut 2,500 jobs to cut costs in its legal, financial and risk divisions.[17] In October 2013, Thomson Reuters announced it would cut another 3,000 jobs, mostly in those same three divisions.[18]
Market position and Thomson Reuters merger antitrust review
[edit]
The Thomson-Reuters merger transaction was reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice and by the European Commission. On 19 February 2008, both the Department of Justice and the Commission cleared the transaction subject to minor divestments.[19] 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.[20] 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."[21]
These remedies were 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."[22]
The transaction was cleared by the Canadian Competition Bureau.[23]
In November 2009, the European Commission opened formal antitrust proceedings[24] against Thomson Reuters concerning a potential infringement of the EC Treaty's rules on abuse of a dominant market position (Article 82). The Commission investigated Thomson Reuters' practices in the area of real-time market datafeeds, and particularly, whether customers or competitors were prevented from translating Reuters Instrument Codes (RICs) to alternative identification codes of other datafeed suppliers (so-called 'mapping') to the detriment of competition. In December 2012, the European Commission adopted a decision that renders legally binding the commitments offered by Thomson Reuters to create a new licence ("ERL") allowing customers, for a monthly fee, to use Reuters Instrument Codes (RICs) in applications for data sourced from Thomson Reuters' real time consolidated datafeed competitors to which they have moved.[25]
Reuters purchase process
[edit]
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."[26] 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 News, 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, 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.[27][28][29][30]
Commercial products and activities
[edit]Operations
[edit]The chief executive of the combined company is Steve Hasker, who was the chief executive for the professional division, and the chairman is David Thomson.[11][31][32]
In 2018, the company was organized around four divisions: Legal, Reuters News Agency, Tax & Accounting, and Government.[33]
Former divisions: Intellectual Property & Science, Financial & Risk, Thomson Healthcare, and Scholarly & Scientific Research.
As of 2018, the Financial & Risk division makes for over half of the company's revenue.[34]
Thomson Reuters competes with Bloomberg L.P., in aggregating financial and legal news.[35]
Thomson Reuters subscriptions compete with open access alternatives, accessible through open data and open source aggregators such as Unpaywall, which can help counter the increase in subscription costs (+779% in the 1995–2015 period vs. 58% for the consumer price index).[36]
Merative
[edit]In 2012, Thomson Reuters sold its Healthcare division to Veritas Capital, who renamed the business Truven Health Analytics.[37] IBM Corporation acquired Truven Health Analytics on February 18, 2016, and merged it with IBM's Watson Health unit.[38] On June 30, 2022, Francisco Partners announced the completion of acquiring Watson Health and launched a healthcare data company named Merative.[39]
Clarivate
[edit]Clarivate was formerly the Intellectual Property and Science division of Thomson Reuters. Before 2008, it was known as Thomson Scientific.[40] In 2016, Thomson Reuters struck a $3.55 billion deal in which they spun it off as an independent company, and sold it to private-equity firms Onex Corporation and Baring Private Equity Asia.[41][42]
Acquisitions and divestitures
[edit]In 1998, Reuters Group plc acquired Lipper Analytical as a wholly owned subsidiary.[43] Lipper became part of Thomson Reuters in April 2008, following the merger of Thomson Financial and Reuters. (The Lipper Fiduciary Services and Lipper FMI was purchased by Broadridge Financial Solutions in May 2015.)[44]
The company has been highly acquisitive, completing over 200 acquisitions between 2008 and 2018.[34]
In 2009, Thomas Reuters acquired numerous companies, including data mining provider Streamlogics,[45] tick data company Vhayu Technologies,[46] European PR distribution group Hugin Group,[47] Breaking Views, and Deloitte's Abacus corporate taxation software.[48] That year, the company also sold the Physician's Desk Reference to Lee Equity Partners.[49]
In 2010, Thomas Reuters acquired Discovery Logic,[50] Aegisoft LLC (allowing them to offer direct market access),[51] Super Lawyers,[52] Norwegian trading analytics company Point Carbon A/S,[53] and Brazilian legal publisher Revista dos Tribunais.[54] Acquisitions in the second half of the year included Complinet,[55] Seregenti Law,[56] Pangea3, GeneGo, and Highline Financial.[57]
Others include:
- On 20 June 2011, Thomson Reuters acquired CorpSmart from Deloitte.[58]
- On 18 July 2011, it acquired Manatron from Thoma Bravo.[59] In August, Thomson Reuters acquired GFMS.[60]
- On 8 December 2011, Thomson Reuters acquired Emochila, a website development firm founded by Chad Brubaker and Justin Curzi in the tax and accounting space, in order to further integrate its CS suite of products onto a cloud-based platform.[61]
- In January 2012, Thomson Reuters acquired Dr Tax, which, according to its press release, was "Canada's largest independently owned developer of income tax software for accounting firms and consumers."[62] Dr Tax's product line includes DT MAX, a tax compliance software for accounting firms, and its consumer tax preparation software, UFile and ImpôtExpert.[63]
- In February, the company acquired RedEgg, a provider of media intelligence services for public relations and marketing professionals.[64] On 22 March, it acquired BizActions, a digital newsletter and Web marketing providers for accounting firms in North America[65]
- On 8 June 2012, Apsmart, a London-based company specializing in design and development of mobile services, became the next organization to be acquired.[66]
- On 25 June 2012, Reuters obtained Zawya Limited, a regional provider of business intelligence and unique tools for financial professionals in the Middle East and North Africa.[67]
- On 10 July 2012, Thomson Reuters acquired FX Alliance Inc, an independent provider of electronic foreign exchange trading services to corporations and asset managers.[68]
- In July 2012, Thomson Reuters also acquired Dofiscal.[69]
- On 26 July 2012, Thomson Reuters announced acquisition of MarkMonitor, a San Francisco-based company specializing in internet brand protection software and services.[70]
- On 3 January 2013, Thomson announced that it was to acquire Practical Law Company, the London-based provider of practical legal know-how and workflow tools to law firms and corporate law departments. Practical Law Company has more than 750 employees, with principal operations in London and New York, and will be part of the Legal business of Thomson Reuters.[71]
- On 16 April 2013, Thomson Reuters acquired Select TaxWorks Assets of RedGear Technologies.[72]
- On 6 June 2013, Thomson Reuters acquired Pricing Partners, a provider of OTC Derivatives Pricing Analytics and independent valuation.[73]
- On 2 July 2013, Thomson Reuters acquired the foreign exchange options business of Tradeweb.[74]
- On 16 August 2013, Thomson Reuters acquired the foreign exchange options risk management technology provider SigmaGenix.[75]
- On 18 August 2013, Thomson Reuters acquired a majority stake in Omnesys Technologies[76] and acquired completely the company on 16 September 2013 [77]
- In August 2013, it also acquired WeComply.[78]
- On 10 September 2013, Thomson Reuters acquired the CPE and CPA Division of Bisk Education Inc [79] and Kortes.[80]
- On 23 October 2013, Thomson Reuters acquired Entagen, acquiring the Cortellis family of products for drug pipeline, deals, patents, and company content.[81]
- On 10 December 2013, Thomson Reuters acquired Avedas.[82]
- In February 2014, Thomson Reuters acquired Brazil's Domínio Sistemas, a company focused on developing accounting services.[83]
- On 1 July 2014, Thomson Reuters acquired UBS Convertible Indices.[84]
- In October 2014, Thomson Reuters sold its PE/VC media assets (including PEHub and Venture Capital Journal) to UCG.[85]
- In January 2015, Thomson Reuters acquired K'Origin.[86]
- In September 2015, Thomson Reuters acquired Business Integrity Ltd.[87]
- In April 2016, Thomson Reuters acquired Wm Reuters Foreign Exchange benchmarks from State Street Corporation.[88]
- In July 2016, Thomson Reuters announced it would be selling its Intellectual Property and Science business (including Web of Science, MarkMonitor and EndNote) to private equity funds;[89][34] the newly independent business is Clarivate Analytics.[90]
- In January 2017, Thomson Reuters acquired REDI allowing Thomson Reuters to incorporate an advanced, cross-asset execution management system (EMS) into its buy-side trading capabilities and deliver integrated trading workflow services to the buy-side community.[91]
- In March 2017, Thomson Reuters acquired the Avox and Clarient businesses from DTCC.[92][93][94]
- In January 2018, Thomson Reuters announced it was divesting its financial and risk unit to U.S. private equity firm, the Blackstone Group. Thomson Reuters will retain 45% of the divested unit, keep the Reuters brand, and will continue to deliver Reuters news and editorial content to the new divested unit. The joint venture is branded as Refinitiv.[95] David Thomson was said to oppose the deal.[96] The transaction was approved by the EU commission on 23 July 2018.[97] The Lipper Fund Awards, retained from the company's 1998 acquisition of Lipper Analytical, also transferred from Reuters to Refinitiv.[98]
- In October 2018, Thomson Reuters announced the future acquisition of Integration Point, a global trade management (GTM) operations company.[99]
- In November 2019, the company acquired global legal market research analyst firm Acritas.[100][101]
- In April 2022, Thomson Reuters acquired Gestta Technology Ltda, an accounting automation software, formerly part of the Redspark Group.[102][103]
- On 3 January 2023, Thomson Reuters acquired SurePrep, a US-based leader in 1040 tax automation software and services. On 11 November 2022, Thomson Reuters announced that it had reached a definitive agreement to acquire SurePrep for $500 million in cash.[104]
- In June 2023, Thomson Reuters agreed to acquire Casetext, a provider of AI technology for legal professionals, in an all-cash deal worth $650 million.[105] The acquisition was completed in August 2023.[106]
- In October 2024, Thomson Reuters announced it was selling its FindLaw business to Internet Brands for an unknown amount.[107]
- In January 2025, Thomson Reuters acquired U.S. tax filing software SafeSend for $600M.[108][109]
Sponsorships
[edit]Thomson Reuters has sponsored Canadian golf champion Mike Weir[110] and the Williams Grand Prix Engineering Formula One team.[111] It also sponsors Marketplace, a radio show from American Public Media.
Thomson Reuters, among other media corporations, also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Clinton Foundation.[112]
Involvement in surveillance
[edit]Thomson Reuters owns and operates the Consolidated Lead Evaluation and Reporting (CLEAR) database,[113][114][115] which scrapes personal and identifying data for use in law enforcement, corporate security, and fraud investigations.[116] Per the company's marketing, CLEAR compiles public records, phone records, utility records, social media information, credit history, motor vehicle registration data, and automatic license plate reader scans to create files on its subjects.[117] CLEAR has been the subject of numerous lawsuits alleging invasions of privacy and other violations of civil liberties.[118][119][120][121]
In November 2019, two groups of legal scholars and human rights activists called on Thomson Reuters to cease providing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Palantir Technologies access to information through CLEAR, which has enabled the deportation of illegal immigrants. A company representative replied that Thomson Reuters will help the American government and police in active criminal investigations and against threats to national security or public safety.[122][123] In February 2020, a group of Thomson Reuters shareholders criticized the company's involvement with ICE for immigrant tracking.[124]
In 2020, three Reuters investigative journalists, Raphael Satter, Christopher Bing and Jack Stubbs, who were conducting an investigation about a hack-for-hire company based in India, forcefully took a photograph of Kumar, a small scale Indian herbal businessman, for alleged hacker Sumit Gupta of Belltrox.[125] Despite providing identification showing he was not the alleged hacker, Kumar's image was used by one of the three journalists in their story. As a result, the businessman was questioned by the police, suffered reputation damage and business loss, and later relocated to a small town.[126] Reuters later admitted to an error of mistaken identity caused by the businessman's sharing of same address with the alleged hacker.[127]
See also
[edit]- Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (T)
- Dual-listed company – Corporate structure type
- List of client portals
- List of companies based in New York City
- List of companies named after people
- List of news agencies
- Software industry in Telangana – Software industry in the Indian state of Telangana
- Related
- Thomson Reuters Business Classification
- Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates
- Thomson Reuters Foundation – London-based charitable arm of Thomson Reuters
- Thomson Reuters Indices
- Thomson Reuters league tables
- Thomson Reuters Messenger – Professional Instant messaging client
- Thomson Reuters Realized Volatility Index – Stock market index
- Thomson Reuters/CoreCommodity CRB Index
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- ^ "Thomson Reuters Completes Acquisition of Casetext". FinSMEs. 17 August 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
- ^ Stockhouse.com. "Thomson Reuters to sell FindLaw business to Internet Brands". stockhouse. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
- ^ "Thomson Reuters buys owner of U.S. tax filing software SafeSend". The Globe and Mail. 2 January 2025. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
- ^ Lawler, Ryan (3 January 2025). "Thomson Reuters acquires SafeSend for $600M". Axios. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
- ^ "Weir gets a new sponsor". The Globe and Mail. 17 December 2007. Retrieved 13 February 2025.
- ^ "Thomson Reuters and Williams celebrate 15-year partnership milestone". motorsport. 4 July 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2025.
- ^ "Clinton Foundation donors include dozens of media organizations, individuals". Politico. 15 May 2015.
- ^ Budington, Bill (9 May 2022). "Thomson Reuters to Review Human Rights Impact of its Data Collection for ICE". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
- ^ "Office of Community Services (OCS) Administrative Manual". Louisiana Department of Social Services.
- ^ "NLETS: Questions and Answers" (PDF). National Immigration Law Center. 1 November 2020.
- ^ "CLEAR: The Complete Solution for Law Enforcement Investigations From: Thomson Reuters". Police Magazine. 23 July 2015.
- ^ "Thomson Reuters CLEAR: The Smarter Way to Get Your Investigative Facts Straight" (PDF). Thomson Reuters. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 April 2024.
- ^ Woolley, John (20 April 2023). "Thomson Reuters Fights CLEAR Suit Class Certification (Correct)". Bloomberg Law News. Archived from the original on 14 March 2024.
- ^ "2nd Cir. - Thomson-Reuters' CLEAR Program Was Not Subject to FCRA". Severson & Werson. 31 May 2019.
- ^ "Thomson Reuters CLEAR Lawsuit". Gibbs Law Group. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
- ^ "Kidd v. Thomson Reuters Corp., No. 17-3550 (2d Cir. 2019)". Justia Law. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
- ^ "Lawyers and Scholars to LexisNexis, Thomson Reuters: Stop Helping ICE Deport People". 14 November 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
- ^ Funk, McKenzie (2 October 2019). "How ICE Picks Its Targets in the Surveillance Age". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
- ^ Lyons, Kim (21 May 2020). "Thomson Reuters faces pressure over ICE contracts". The Verge. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
- ^ Quint, The (10 June 2020). "BellTroX: How an Obscure Indian Firm Ran A Global Spying Operation". TheQuint. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
- ^ Mihindukulasuriya, Regina (29 June 2020). "Reuters goofs up, shows innocent Delhi man as wanted Indian hacker behind global spy racket". ThePrint. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
- ^ "Exclusive: Obscure Indian cyber firm spied on politicians, investors worldwide". Reuters. 9 June 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
Further reading
[edit]- Peter Kaplan (4 May 2007). "Thomson Reuters deal would raise U.S. antitrust issue". Reuters.
- Penny Crosman (16 May 2007). "How Will the Thomson Reuters Marriage Affect Customers?". Wall Street & Technology. CMP Media LLC. Archived from the original on 19 January 2008. Retrieved 17 May 2007.
- Ian Austen (9 May 2007). "Combined Thomson Reuters Would Challenge Bloomberg". New York Times.
- Jerry Bowles (18 June 2007). "Reuters using social media software to launch community around environmental markets". WebPro News. Archived from the original on 5 June 2010.
- Ovide, Shira (26 July 2011). "Crunch Time at Thomson Reuters". Wall Street Journal. "CEO Glocer Is Under Pressure After Restructuring Backed by Controlling Family".
External links
[edit]Thomson Reuters
View on GrokipediaHistory
Thomson Corporation Origins and Expansion
The Thomson Corporation traces its origins to the media ventures of Roy Thomson, a Canadian entrepreneur born in Toronto in 1894, who left school at age 14 and initially worked as a clerk and salesman before entering broadcasting. In 1932, Thomson launched a radio station in North Bay, Ontario, capitalizing on the growing demand for local content during the Great Depression. By 1934, he acquired his first newspaper, The Timmins Daily Press in a northern Ontario gold-mining town, establishing the foundation of what would become Thomson Newspapers through opportunistic purchases of underperforming local publications that he revitalized via cost efficiencies and advertising revenue growth.[4][11][12] Expansion accelerated in the post-World War II era as Thomson capitalized on undervalued assets amid economic recovery. Between 1949 and 1952, he purchased additional newspapers in Ontario and Quebec, building a regional chain that by the mid-1950s comprised over a dozen titles focused on small-town markets where monopoly positions ensured steady cash flows. In 1957, Thomson ventured internationally by acquiring the Kemsley Group, a British conglomerate with 23 newspapers including The Sunday Times, for £8 million, merging it with his Scottish holdings to form a transatlantic empire; this move was driven by exchange controls limiting reinvestment in Canada and opportunities in the UK's consolidating press industry.[4][11][13] The 1960s marked further UK consolidation, with Thomson Newspapers Ltd. going public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1960 and acquiring The Times of London in 1966 for £12 million amid the newspaper's financial distress under previous ownership. Roy Thomson's death in 1976, at age 82, left the enterprise to his son Kenneth, who shifted strategy toward diversification as print media profitability waned due to rising labor costs and competition. By the late 1970s, the formation of International Thomson Organisation Limited (ITOL) facilitated entry into non-newspaper sectors, including travel guides via the 1970 purchase of Jane's Information Group and professional publishing through acquisitions like Wadsworth in 1979, which provided textbooks and reference materials.[4][14][15] The formal creation of The Thomson Corporation in June 1989 resulted from merging Thomson Newspapers Ltd. with ITOL, centralizing operations in Toronto and emphasizing electronic information services over traditional print. This pivot intensified in the 1980s with investments in financial data terminals and legal databases, exemplified by the 1980 acquisition of FP Publications for its Canadian assets and subsequent U.S. expansions like the 1986 purchase of Southwestern Publishing for educational content. By the early 1990s, amid declining newspaper margins, the company divested most print holdings—selling U.S. and Canadian dailies in 1995—and acquired West Publishing in 1996 for $3.4 billion, gaining a dominant position in U.S. legal research via the Westlaw system, which propelled revenue growth into specialized B2B information tools. This evolution reflected a pragmatic response to technological disruption, prioritizing high-margin digital products over commoditized news.[4][14][11]Reuters Founders and Early Development
Paul Julius Reuter, originally named Israel Beer Josaphat and born on July 29, 1816, in Kassel, Germany, to Jewish parents, established the Reuters news agency after early careers in banking, bookselling, and involvement with the emerging telegraph technology. In April 1850, he launched a commercial news and stock price service in Aachen, Prussia (now Germany), employing carrier pigeons to transmit information across the 60-mile gap between Brussels and Aachen where telegraph lines were absent, filling a critical void in real-time financial data dissemination.[16][17] In 1851, Reuter relocated operations to London, opening an office in the City that leveraged newly available submarine telegraph cables to deliver stock market quotations between London, Paris, and other European centers, formalizing the agency's focus on rapid, reliable financial news transmission. This shift capitalized on the causal advantage of telegraphy over traditional couriers, enabling Reuters to outpace competitors by minutes or hours, a edge that proved essential in volatile markets. By integrating pigeons—eventually numbering over 200—with expanding cable networks, the agency bridged infrastructural limitations and built a reputation for speed.[18][19][20] During its formative decades through the 1870s, Reuters evolved from a niche stock ticker service to a broader news provider, establishing correspondents in key European cities and supplying bulletins to newspapers and brokers; for instance, it covered the 1859 Italian unification wars and the 1870-1871 Franco-Prussian War with dispatches that informed public opinion and trading decisions. Reuter was ennobled as Baron von Reuter by the King of Saxony in 1871 for his contributions to communication, reflecting the agency's growing influence. Upon his death on February 25, 1899, Reuters had transitioned to a limited company structure, sustaining operations through family successors and emphasizing impartiality in reporting to maintain trust among subscribers.[21][18]Merger Formation and Antitrust Scrutiny
The Thomson Corporation announced its agreement to acquire Reuters Group PLC on May 15, 2007, in a transaction valued at approximately £8.7 billion (US$17.2 billion), structured as a combination through a dual-listed company (DLC) framework to form Thomson Reuters.[22] Under the terms, Reuters shareholders received 352.5 pence in cash and 0.16 ordinary shares in the new Thomson Reuters PLC for each Reuters share, while Thomson shareholders exchanged their shares for equivalent stakes in Thomson Reuters Corporation, preserving equivalent economic interests under the DLC.[3] The merger aimed to integrate Thomson's financial data and analytics strengths with Reuters' news and information services, creating a dominant provider in financial markets data.[23] Shareholder approvals for the transaction were secured on March 26, 2008, followed by court sanctions in Ontario, Canada, and England and Wales, enabling completion on April 17, 2008.[3] The DLC structure allowed Thomson Reuters to operate as a single economic entity with unified management and strategy, despite separate listings on the Toronto and London stock exchanges, with the Thomson family retaining significant control via a 53% voting interest through Founders Shares.[24] Post-merger, the company reorganized into professional divisions focused on legal, tax, accounting, and Reuters news operations.[25] Antitrust scrutiny arose due to the combined entity's potential to control over 60% of key financial data markets, prompting investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the European Commission.[26] The DOJ concluded on February 19, 2008, that the merger would eliminate direct competition in U.S. municipal securities trading data, corporate actions data, and global ownership data, likely leading to higher prices and reduced innovation absent remedies.[27] To address this, Thomson was required to divest copies of three specific datasets and license related intellectual property rights to a DOJ-approved buyer within 60 days, ensuring continued competition.[28] The European Commission, in its parallel review under Case No COMP/M.4726, approved the merger unconditionally on February 19, 2008, after a Phase II investigation into discrete content sets like real-time pricing data for equities and fixed income.[29] While noting high combined market shares in certain segments, the Commission found sufficient countervailing buyer power from large financial institutions and potential entry barriers not prohibitive enough to warrant divestitures.[29] These clearances, alongside approvals from other jurisdictions like Canada and Australia, facilitated the deal's closure without further structural remedies beyond the U.S. requirements.[30]Post-Merger Evolution and Strategic Shifts
Following the completion of the merger on April 17, 2008, Thomson Reuters undertook significant operational integration, combining Thomson Corporation's strengths in legal, tax, accounting, and scientific information with Reuters Group's global news and financial data capabilities. This period was marked by efforts to streamline overlapping functions amid the global financial crisis, which strained the financial markets segment and led to cost-cutting measures, including workforce reductions. By 2009, the company reported initial synergies but faced criticism for cultural clashes and slower-than-expected performance in merged financial data operations.[31][7] Leadership transitions shaped early evolution, with Thomas Glocer serving as CEO until December 2011, when he was succeeded by James (Jim) Smith, a long-time Thomson executive focused on operational efficiency. Under Smith, the company pursued divestitures to sharpen focus, selling its Healthcare unit to Veritas Capital for $1.25 billion in 2012 and the Intellectual Property & Science business to Onex and Baring Private Equity Asia for $3.55 billion in 2016. These moves reduced diversification into non-core areas and generated capital for reinvestment in high-margin professional services. Steve Hasker assumed the CEO role in March 2020, emphasizing digital transformation and sustainability, including a commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050.[32][33][34][35] A pivotal strategic shift occurred in 2018 with the sale of a 55% stake in the Financial & Risk division to Blackstone for an enterprise value of $20 billion, retaining 45% ownership in the rebranded Refinitiv entity. This transaction, closed in October 2018, allowed Thomson Reuters to refocus on three core segments: Legal professionals, Corporates (encompassing tax, accounting, and risk management), and Reuters News, which together accounted for about 57% of revenues post-deal. The divestiture freed resources to accelerate organic growth and acquisitions in legal technology, such as Practical Law Company in 2013, while exiting commoditized financial data competition. Subsequent developments included the full divestiture of the remaining stake to the London Stock Exchange Group in 2021, further streamlining operations toward specialized content and workflow tools.[36][37][38] In recent years, strategic emphasis has shifted toward technological innovation, particularly artificial intelligence integration to enhance professional workflows. Under Hasker, the company has pursued AI-driven products like CoCounsel, bolstered by the 2023 acquisition of Casetext for legal AI capabilities, and expanded integrations across platforms in 2025. This evolution reflects a broader pivot from broad information dissemination to AI-augmented decision-making tools, with surveys indicating firms adopting such strategies achieve higher revenue growth. Investments in global technology centers, including a Toronto hub employing over 1,500, support this focus on scalable, data-enriched solutions amid competitive pressures in professional services.[39][40][41]Corporate Governance and Structure
Dual-Listed Company Framework
Thomson Reuters was established in 2008 through the merger of The Thomson Corporation (Canada) and Reuters Group PLC (UK), adopting a dual-listed company (DLC) structure to integrate the entities while maintaining separate public listings and legal identities for each parent company.[42] Under this framework, Thomson Reuters Corporation, incorporated in Ontario, Canada, and listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), held a controlling interest in the combined operating subsidiaries, while Thomson Reuters PLC, incorporated in England and Wales and listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Nasdaq, held a minority economic interest equivalent to its pre-merger ownership in Reuters.[43] The structure ensured that the business was managed and operated as a unified economic entity, with consolidated financial reporting, shared governance, and equivalent cash dividend rights for shareholders of both parents, but with differentiated voting control concentrated in the Canadian entity through holdings by The Woodbridge Company, the Thomson family's investment vehicle, which owned approximately 53% of the voting shares at formation. The DLC framework was designed to address regulatory, tax, and listing considerations arising from the cross-jurisdictional merger, including commitments to preserve Reuters' editorial independence under UK law, while allowing Thomson shareholders to retain majority control without immediate delisting of Reuters shares.[44] Contractual arrangements between the two parents aligned their interests, including equalized economic participation in the group's profits and losses, cross-guarantees on debt, and coordinated board representation, with the Thomson Reuters Corporation board overseeing strategy for the combined entity.[45] This setup facilitated the merger's approval amid antitrust scrutiny in multiple jurisdictions, as it preserved minority shareholder protections for former Reuters investors without fully subsuming PLC into the Canadian parent.[42] However, the structure introduced complexities in share trading liquidity, capital raising, and regulatory compliance across four exchanges, prompting early evaluation of simplification.[44] In June 2009, Thomson Reuters announced plans to unify the DLC structure, citing improved trading efficiency and reduced administrative costs as primary rationales, with shareholders approving the scheme in August 2009.[46] The unification, completed on September 10, 2009, involved exchanging each Thomson Reuters PLC ordinary share for one common share in Thomson Reuters Corporation, resulting in delisting from the LSE and Nasdaq while retaining TSX and NYSE listings under the single Canadian parent.[47] Post-unification, the company operates as a unified corporation with Woodbridge maintaining significant voting influence—approximately 66% of votes through its shareholdings—but without the dual-parent overlay, streamlining governance while preserving key merger-era protections like those for Reuters' news integrity via a separate trusteeship.[43] This evolution from DLC to single-entity structure reflects a pragmatic response to operational inefficiencies, as evidenced by the rapid unification within 18 months of formation, without material impact on minority shareholder economics.[42]Founders Share Company Role
The Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company Limited holds a unique Founders Share in Thomson Reuters Corporation, granting it specific veto rights to protect the company's adherence to the Trust Principles originally established for Reuters in 1941. These principles emphasize editorial independence, the absence of bias toward any single interest, accuracy, and the separation of news from commercial pressures.[48] The Founders Share Company was created in 2008 as part of the merger between Thomson Corporation and Reuters Group PLC, ensuring that the combined entity's news operations maintained these safeguards despite the Thomson family's majority ownership through Woodbridge Company Limited.[49][50] This entity operates independently from Thomson Reuters' management and the Thomson family, with its board of directors comprising individuals selected for expertise in journalism, public service, law, and diplomacy, rather than direct affiliation with the company. As of 2018, the directors included figures such as former diplomats and media executives, tasked with monitoring compliance and exercising veto power over actions that could undermine the Trust Principles, such as mergers or sales that might compromise news integrity.[16][51] The Founders Share specifically allows intervention in shareholder votes on key matters, including restrictions on shareholdings that could lead to dominance by any party and vetoes on constitutional changes affecting Reuters' operations.[48] In practice, the Founders Share Company's role extends to advisory input on business decisions impacting the news division, though it does not manage daily operations. For instance, during the 2018 sale of Thomson Reuters' Financial & Risk business to Blackstone (forming Refinitiv), the company reviewed the transaction to confirm it preserved the Trust Principles for the retained Reuters news service.[50] This structure balances the Thomson family's economic control—holding approximately 66% of voting shares as of December 2024—with institutional protections against potential conflicts, reflecting a governance model designed to prioritize journalistic integrity over shareholder primacy in news-related matters.[52]Executive Leadership and Board Oversight
Steve Hasker has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Thomson Reuters since March 15, 2020, overseeing the company's global strategy, operations, and performance across its information services segments. Prior to joining Thomson Reuters, Hasker was a senior partner at TPG Capital, where he led investments in media and technology, and held executive roles at Nielsen Holdings and McKinsey & Company, bringing extensive experience in consulting, private equity, and data analytics to the position.[53][54] The executive leadership team reports to Hasker and includes key roles such as Chief Financial Officer Michael Eastwood, who has managed financial operations since joining the company in 1998 after prior experience at PwC; Chief Legal Officer Norie Campbell, appointed in 2023 following roles at TD Bank Group; and Chief Operations and Technology Officer Kirsty Roth, responsible for technology infrastructure with backgrounds at HSBC and Credit Suisse. Other senior executives handle human resources, product development, strategy, and marketing, supporting the company's focus on professional services in legal, tax, and news sectors. This structure emphasizes functional expertise in finance, legal, and technology to drive operational efficiency and innovation.[53] The Board of Directors, chaired by David Thomson since the company's formation, consists of 14 members as elected at the June 4, 2025, Annual General Meeting, including the CEO and a mix of independent directors with expertise in technology, finance, and media. Notable members include Kirk E. Arnold, former CEO of Data Intensity; LaVerne H. Council, ex-CIO of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; and newly elected directors Michael Friisdahl, former executive chairman of Signature Aviation, and Paul Sagan, former CEO of Akamai Technologies, reflecting recent additions to enhance aviation, sports, and internet infrastructure perspectives. The board's composition balances internal leadership with external independence, though ultimate control resides with the Thomson family through Woodbridge Company Limited's ownership of super-voting Founders Shares.[55][56] Board oversight encompasses strategic direction, risk management, financial reporting, and compliance, guided by corporate governance principles that promote accountability and alignment with shareholder interests. The Corporate Governance Committee, a key subcommittee, assists in director nominations, board structure evaluation, and governance practices, ensuring annual assessments of board effectiveness. This framework, updated as of February 2025, mandates director independence for non-management roles and addresses succession planning, while the independent Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company board separately safeguards the Reuters Trust Principles for journalistic integrity. Recent retirements, such as W. Edmund Clark in 2025 after a decade of service, illustrate ongoing refreshment to maintain diverse expertise amid evolving regulatory and technological demands.[57][58][59]Business Operations
Legal and Regulatory Services
Thomson Reuters' Legal division delivers software platforms, content, and services tailored for legal professionals, corporate counsel, and government entities, emphasizing research, workflow automation, and compliance support. Core offerings integrate primary legal materials, expert analysis, and AI-enhanced tools to facilitate case preparation, due diligence, and regulatory adherence. In 2023, the division generated approximately 42% of Thomson Reuters' total revenue, underscoring its centrality to the company's operations.[60][61] Westlaw serves as the flagship legal research platform, aggregating vast databases of U.S. and international case law, statutes, regulations, administrative decisions, and secondary sources such as treatises and law reviews. Originating from West Publishing's print reporters, Westlaw transitioned to digital format in the 1970s and has evolved with features like KeyCite for citation validation and Westlaw Edge, which incorporates machine learning for predictive analytics on case outcomes and docket events. As of 2025, Westlaw supports over 1.5 million users across law firms, corporations, and academia, with AI-driven litigation analytics reducing research time by up to 30% according to user benchmarks.[62][63] Practical Law complements Westlaw by providing transactional know-how, including precedents, checklists, standard forms, and practice notes authored and updated by more than 650 full-time attorney-editors with prior law firm experience. Launched in the U.S. in 2009 following Thomson's acquisition of the Practical Law Company, it covers areas like mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and litigation support, enabling faster drafting and risk assessment. Global variants adapt content for jurisdictions including the UK, Australia, and Canada, with resources refreshed daily to reflect legislative changes.[64] In regulatory services, Thomson Reuters focuses on compliance management tools that aggregate rules from agencies like the SEC, FCA, and EU bodies, aiding tracking and interpretation for financial services and other regulated industries. Prior to its divestiture, Regulatory Intelligence—introduced in the 2010s—tracked over 10,000 global regulations annually across banking, insurance, and anti-money laundering sectors, but was sold to CUBE Global on January 2, 2025, shifting emphasis to integrated platforms like ONESOURCE for indirect tax and trade compliance. Remaining solutions, such as Regulatory Change Management, leverage API integrations for automated updates, helping clients mitigate non-compliance penalties estimated at billions annually by industry reports.[65][66][67] Ancillary products include CLEAR for investigative due diligence, pulling public records and risk indicators, and a legacy of print law books under the West imprint, which continue digitally via integrated e-books. These services collectively address high-stakes demands in a landscape where regulatory complexity has intensified, with U.S. federal rules expanding by 20% from 2020 to 2024 per government data.[61][68]Tax, Accounting, and Compliance Solutions
Thomson Reuters delivers integrated software solutions for tax management, accounting processes, and regulatory compliance, targeting accounting firms, corporations, and government entities. These tools emphasize automation of tax calculations, data management, and reporting to address federal, state, local, and international requirements.[69] Key offerings include the ONESOURCE platform for corporate tax workflows and the CS Professional Suite for professional accounting tasks.[70] The ONESOURCE suite provides end-to-end corporate tax capabilities, covering direct tax compliance, indirect tax determination (such as sales and use tax, GST, and VAT), tax provisioning, and global trade management. It automates tax data aggregation from ERP systems, supports multi-jurisdictional reporting, and facilitates e-filing to minimize compliance risks and errors. For instance, ONESOURCE Indirect Compliance streamlines VAT reporting and filing, reducing manual processes and associated costs for multinational operations.[71] Launched as a cloud-native platform in May 2025, ONESOURCE integrates with broader enterprise systems to handle complex tax lifecycles from determination to audit defense.[72] In accounting, Thomson Reuters' Accounting CS software enables firms to perform write-up, trial balance adjustments, payroll processing, and financial statement analysis within a single platform. It supports client collaboration through automated integrations and customizable reports, streamlining bookkeeping for small to mid-sized practices. Complementing this, UltraTax CS handles tax preparation for various forms, including federal 1040 individual returns, 1120 corporate filings, 1065 partnerships, and 1041 estates and trusts, with built-in state and local compliance features.[73][74] Compliance solutions are embedded across these products, with Checkpoint providing research tools for tax, audit, and accounting guidance drawn from primary legal sources. This ensures adherence to evolving regulations, such as U.S. state apportionment rules or international VAT directives, through real-time updates and scenario modeling. ONESOURCE's tax data management hub centralizes information for provision calculations and transfer pricing documentation, aiding corporations in meeting OECD and IRS standards.[75][76] Overall, these solutions prioritize accuracy and efficiency, with features like automated error checks and workflow integrations reducing manual compliance burdens for users handling high-volume transactions.[77]Corporate Risk and Investigation Tools
Thomson Reuters offers a suite of corporate risk and investigation tools under its Risk & Fraud Solutions portfolio, designed to support organizations in preventing fraud, detecting risks, and streamlining investigative processes. These tools integrate vast collections of public records, proprietary data, and analytics to enable identity verification, adverse media screening, and compliance monitoring, particularly for anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) requirements.[78] The solutions target corporate compliance teams, financial institutions, and risk managers seeking to mitigate exposure to financial crimes, third-party risks, and regulatory violations.[79] A flagship offering is CLEAR, an investigative platform that aggregates millions of current and historical public records, including criminal histories, property data, and online footprints, to facilitate rapid fact-finding and connection analysis. Launched as a comprehensive tool for fraud prevention and monitoring, CLEAR supports batch processing for high-volume searches and provides visualizations for uncovering hidden relationships in potential fraud schemes.[80][81] Users, including corporate investigators and law enforcement, leverage its real-time data access to verify identities, locate assets, and manage cases efficiently, with features like customizable alerts for ongoing monitoring.[82][83] Complementing CLEAR is CLEAR Risk Inform, a specialized risk assessment application that employs scoring algorithms and summarized analytics to evaluate subject risks preemptively. It processes data on sanctions, politically exposed persons (PEPs), and negative news to generate risk profiles, aiding corporations in third-party due diligence and transaction screening.[84][85] This tool integrates with broader compliance workflows, automating assessments to reduce manual review time and enhance decision-making in high-stakes environments like banking and insurance.[86] These tools emphasize data-driven risk mitigation over reactive measures, with Thomson Reuters highlighting their role in continuous monitoring to adapt to evolving threats such as synthetic identity fraud and supply chain vulnerabilities.[87] Corporate adoption has been driven by regulatory pressures, including those from the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act and EU AML directives, positioning the solutions as essential for maintaining operational integrity amid increasing global scrutiny.[88][89]Reuters News and Information Services
Reuters News and Information Services constitutes the media division of Thomson Reuters, delivering real-time news, multimedia content, and data intelligence primarily to media outlets, corporations, governments, and financial professionals. Established as the successor to the original Reuters news agency founded in 1851, it emphasizes rapid, fact-based reporting across global events, business, politics, and markets, with content distributed via wire services, digital platforms, and APIs.[90][91] The division employs over 2,600 journalists operating from bureaus in 165 countries, producing coverage in 12 languages and reaching billions of users daily through partnerships with news organizations and direct subscriptions.[91] Key operational strengths include on-the-ground reporting from conflict zones, financial markets, and corporate events, supported by verification units for fact-checking and combating misinformation. In 2024, Reuters News generated $218 million in revenues for the fourth quarter, reflecting a 1% decline year-over-year amid shifts toward digital subscriptions and away from traditional print syndication, though organic revenues fell 3% due to competitive pressures in multimedia distribution.[92] Core services encompass text newswires enriched with contextual analysis, award-winning photography and video feeds via platforms like Reuters Connect, interactive graphics for data visualization, and specialized feeds for sectors such as energy, technology, and legal affairs. Technological innovations include the Reuters AI Suite, which integrates machine learning for content summarization, real-time translation, and retrieval-augmented generation to enhance efficiency for clients automating news workflows.[90][91] These tools enable scalable delivery, with video services leading in global news agency metrics and API integrations facilitating programmatic access for algorithmic trading and content aggregation.[91] Governance of the division is guided by the Reuters Trust Principles, formalized in 1941 and upheld post the 2008 Thomson-Reuters merger, mandating independence from commercial or political influence, integrity in sourcing, and freedom from bias in news dissemination.[93][94] The principles prohibit any single interest from controlling more than 15% of voting shares in the parent company and require editorial decisions to prioritize factual accuracy over advocacy. Despite these safeguards, third-party bias assessments, such as those from AllSides Media, rate Reuters overall as center but note perceptual lean-left tendencies in coverage of social and political issues, with Republican reviewers consistently assigning a slight left bias in blind surveys.[95] Ad Fontes Media similarly scores it near center with high reliability for factual reporting, though empirical analyses of topic selection reveal underrepresentation of certain conservative viewpoints, aligning with broader patterns in legacy media institutions.[8] Leadership, under President Paul Bascobert since September 2022, focuses on expanding AI-enhanced services while maintaining these principles amid digital disruption.[96]Key Products and Technological Innovations
Core Software Platforms
Thomson Reuters maintains several foundational software platforms that deliver specialized tools for professional workflows in legal, tax, accounting, and risk management sectors. Westlaw, a cornerstone legal research platform, provides access to extensive databases of case law, statutes, regulations, and secondary sources, enabling precise querying and citation analysis for legal practitioners. Launched originally by West Publishing and integrated into Thomson Reuters' ecosystem following the 1996 acquisition, Westlaw has evolved into variants like Westlaw Precision and Westlaw Edge, supporting advanced search algorithms and docket monitoring across jurisdictions.[62] In tax and compliance, ONESOURCE functions as an end-to-end cloud-based automation suite for corporate tax provision, indirect tax compliance, income tax reporting, and global trade management, integrating data from enterprise systems to streamline multinational operations and ensure adherence to evolving regulations. Adopted by over 70% of Fortune 500 companies for tax functions as of 2023, it emphasizes deterministic calculations and audit-ready documentation to mitigate compliance risks.[71] The CS Professional Suite addresses accounting and tax preparation needs through modular applications including UltraTax CS for federal and state returns, Accounting CS for general ledger and financial reporting, and Practice CS for workflow automation, all hosted on-premises or in the cloud to facilitate real-time collaboration among firms. This suite processes millions of returns annually, with built-in error-checking and e-filing capabilities compliant with IRS standards as of the 2024 tax year.[97] Additional platforms like HighQ offer secure, cloud-native legal operations management, incorporating matter management, document automation, and client collaboration portals to enhance efficiency in corporate legal departments and law firms. These tools collectively underpin Thomson Reuters' revenue from software subscriptions, which accounted for approximately 60% of its professional segment income in fiscal 2023, reflecting their entrenched role in professional decision-making.[98]AI-Driven Tools and Developments
Thomson Reuters has pursued AI integration across its professional services since the early 2020s, building on R&D efforts dating to 1992, with formal AI applications accelerating post-2020 to enhance information access and workflow automation.[99] On April 15, 2025, the Thomson Reuters Institute published the "2025 Generative AI in Professional Services Report," based on a survey of 1,702 professionals across legal, tax, accounting & audit, risk & fraud, and government sectors. Key findings include nearly half of professionals personally using GenAI (41% public tools like ChatGPT, 17% industry-specific tools); organizational adoption nearly doubling from 12% in 2024 to 22% in 2025; 95% expecting GenAI to become central to workflows within five years; increasingly positive sentiment (55% hopeful/excited); and ongoing challenges such as 64% receiving no GenAI training, 52% lacking policies, and only 20% measuring ROI.[100] The company invested over $200 million in AI technology during 2024, with commitments extending into 2025 to develop proprietary models grounded in domain-specific data from legal, tax, and risk sectors.[101] This includes leveraging natural language processing (NLP) for content creation, enhancement, and customer analytics, prioritizing "professional-grade" AI trained on curated, verifiable datasets to minimize hallucinations common in general-purpose models.[102] A pivotal development was the November 2023 launch of CoCounsel, a generative AI assistant designed for legal professionals to perform tasks such as document analysis, deposition summarization, and contract review, drawing on Thomson Reuters' proprietary content libraries for accuracy.[103] In January 2024, enhancements like Search & Summarize in Practical Law integrated generative AI to query and distill guidance from thousands of resources, enabling rapid extraction of precedents and clauses.[104] Westlaw Advantage followed as an AI-powered research tool, using machine learning to refine queries and deliver cited results from case law and statutes, reducing manual sifting by prioritizing relevance over volume.[105] By mid-2025, Thomson Reuters advanced to agentic AI systems, launching a platform in June that automates multi-step workflows via autonomous agents, accelerated by the acquisition of AI copilot startup Materia.[106] This included agentic applications for tax and advisory, such as the forthcoming Ready to Review tool for audit validation, which processes datasets to flag discrepancies and suggest adjustments.[107] CoCounsel Knowledge Search, released July 9, 2025, extended capabilities to federated queries across internal documents, Thomson Reuters content, and external sources, supporting institutional knowledge management.[108] In September 2025, integrations for legal education via Westlaw's Deep Research tool enabled students to simulate advanced queries, fostering skills in AI-augmented analysis.[109] Further momentum came from the October 21, 2025, partnership with DeepJudge to refine next-generation legal AI, focusing on verifiable reasoning chains for case predictions and argument construction, backed by Thomson Reuters' ongoing $200 million-plus AI investments.[110] These tools emphasize human oversight, with built-in citations and audit trails to align outputs with evidentiary standards, reflecting a strategy to embed AI as a force multiplier rather than a replacement for professional judgment.[111]Acquisitions, Divestitures, and Spin-offs
Major Acquisitions
Thomson Reuters has strategically acquired companies to expand its capabilities in legal technology, tax compliance, and AI-driven solutions, with a focus on integrating advanced automation and analytics into its professional services platforms. Since 2023, the company has completed six acquisitions totaling approximately $2.1 billion, emphasizing technologies that enhance efficiency for tax, legal, and corporate professionals.[112] In January 2023, Thomson Reuters acquired SurePrep, LLC, a provider of tax workflow automation software, for $500 million in cash. The acquisition aimed to strengthen the company's tax and accounting offerings by incorporating SurePrep's AI-powered tools for document processing and return preparation, serving over 20,000 tax firms.[113][114] Later in August 2023, Thomson Reuters completed the purchase of Casetext, Inc., a legal AI firm, for $650 million. Casetext's CoCounsel platform, which uses generative AI for legal research and drafting, was integrated to advance Thomson Reuters' Westlaw and Practical Law products, targeting improved accuracy and speed for legal practitioners amid rising demand for AI in the legal sector.[115][116] In February 2024, Thomson Reuters finalized its acquisition of Pagero Group, a Swedish e-invoicing and tax reporting solutions provider, following an initial offer of 6.4 billion Swedish kronor (approximately $627 million) that was increased to secure majority control. Pagero's global network for cross-border compliance was added to bolster Thomson Reuters' ONESOURCE indirect tax offerings, facilitating digital transformation in supply chain and regulatory adherence.[117][112] These deals reflect Thomson Reuters' allocation of up to $10 billion for acquisitions, with an annual $100 million investment in AI, to counter competitive pressures from tech disruptors in professional information services.[118]Significant Divestitures and Spin-offs
In October 2018, Thomson Reuters sold a 55% majority stake in its Financial & Risk (F&R) business to a consortium led by Blackstone for approximately $20 billion, retaining a 45% minority interest in the resulting entity, which was renamed Refinitiv.[119] This divestiture allowed Thomson Reuters to realize significant capital while maintaining some exposure to the financial data and analytics segment, with the transaction closing after regulatory approvals and yielding about $17 billion in gross proceeds to the company after adjustments.[120] In January 2021, Thomson Reuters completed the sale of its remaining 45% stake in Refinitiv to the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) for $6.6 billion in cash plus a $400 million special dividend, fully exiting the business and receiving a total of around $20.7 billion from the combined deals, which funded share buybacks and debt reduction.[121] In July 2016, Thomson Reuters announced the sale of its Intellectual Property & Science business, which provided analytics for scientific research, patents, and trademarks, to a consortium led by Onex Corporation and Baring Private Equity Asia for $3.55 billion in cash.[122] The deal closed in October 2016, with the buyer rebranding the unit as Clarivate Analytics, enabling Thomson Reuters to streamline operations toward its core legal, tax, and news segments while divesting a non-core scientific information provider that had generated about 7% of group revenue.[123] In June 2011, Thomson Reuters agreed to sell its Healthcare business, focused on clinical data and analytics for providers and payers, to Veritas Capital Fund Management for $1.25 billion, with the transaction completing in 2012 and the unit rebranded as Truven Health Analytics.[124] This divestiture realigned the company's portfolio by separating healthcare from its Intellectual Property & Science operations, allowing focus on higher-margin professional services amid strategic shifts post the 2008 Thomson-Reuters merger.[124] More recently, in April 2023, Thomson Reuters sold a majority stake in Elite, its legal practice management and financial accounting software suite for mid-sized law firms, to TPG Capital, spinning it off as an independent entity to sharpen emphasis on integrated legal tech platforms. In October 2024, the company entered an agreement to sell its FindLaw legal marketing services business to Internet Brands, pending approvals, further refining its digital consumer-facing offerings.[125] These moves reflect ongoing efforts to divest peripheral assets and concentrate on core competencies in legal, tax, and compliance amid evolving market demands for specialized professional tools.Financial Performance and Market Position
Revenue Streams and Growth Metrics
Thomson Reuters derives the bulk of its revenues from subscription-based electronic content and software services targeted at professionals in legal, corporate risk, tax and accounting, and news sectors, with recurring revenues comprising 83% of total revenues in the fourth quarter of 2024.[126] Transactions revenues, including tax products and professional services, accounted for 12% in the second quarter of 2025, while global print revenues continued to decline.[127] The company's "Big Three" segments—Legal Professionals, Corporates, and Tax & Accounting Professionals—collectively represented 82% of total revenues in the second quarter of 2025, underscoring their dominance in subscription and workflow tools like Westlaw, ONESOURCE, and Practical Law.[127] Reuters News contributes a smaller portion, primarily through licensing content to financial terminals and media outlets, generating $0.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024.[128] Annual revenues have shown steady expansion, driven by organic growth in recurring subscriptions amid demand for AI-enhanced tools and regulatory compliance solutions:| Year | Revenue (USD billion) | Year-over-Year Growth |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 6.794 | 2.52% |
| 2024 | 7.258 | 6.83% |
