Reuters Group
Encyclopedia
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
.
Reuters Group was best-known for the Reuters
news agency, which was the original business of the company. By the time of its merger with Thomson the bulk of Reuters Group's revenues came from the provision of financial market data, with news reporting
comprising less than 10% of its turnover.
Paul Julius Reuter noticed that, with the electric telegraph, news no longer required days or weeks to travel long distances. In the 1850s, the 34-year-old Reuter was based in Aachen
– then in the Kingdom of Prussia
, now in Germany – close to the borders with the Netherlands and Belgium. He began using the newly opened Berlin–Aachen telegraph line to send news to Berlin. However, the telegraph did not extend the 76 miles (122.3 km) to Brussels
, Belgium's capital city and financial center. Reuter saw an opportunity to speed up news service between Brussels and Berlin by using homing pigeon
s to bridge that gap.
In 1851, Reuter moved to London. After failures in 1847 and 1850, attempts by the Submarine Telegraph Company to lay an undersea telegraph cable across the English Channel
, from Dover
to Calais
, promised success. Reuter set up his "Submarine Telegraph" office in October 1851 just before the opening of that undersea cable in November, and he negotiated a contract with the London Stock Exchange
to provide stock prices from exchanges in continental Europe
in return for access to the London prices, which he then supplied to stockbrokers in Paris. In 1865, Reuter's private firm was restructured, and it became a limited company (a corporation) called the Reuter's Telegram Company. Reuter had been naturalised as a British subject
in 1857.
Reuter's agency built a reputation in Europe for being the first to report news scoops
from abroad, such as Abraham Lincoln
’s assassination. Almost every major news outlet in the world now subscribes to Reuters' services, which operates in over 200 cities in 94 countries in about 20 languages.
The last surviving member of the Reuters family founders, Marguerite, Baroness de Reuter
, died at age 96 on 25 January 2009, after having suffered a series of strokes.
and on the NASDAQ
in the United States. However, there were concerns that the company's tradition for objective reporting might be jeopardised if control of the company later fell into the hands of a single shareholder. To counter that possibility, the constitution of the company at the time of the stock offering included a rule that no individual was allowed to own more than 15% of the company. If this limit is exceeded, the directors can order the shareholder to reduce the holding to less than 15%. That rule was applied in the late 1980s when Rupert Murdoch
's News Corporation
, which already held around 15% of Reuters, bought an Australian news company that also owned stock in Reuters. Murdoch was subsequently compelled to reduce his holdings to less than 15%.
Further protecting Reuters from owner actions that might threaten its independence is Reuters Founders Share Company Limited, formed in 1984 as part of the share float. This company's stated mission is to protect the integrity of the company's news output. It holds one "Founders Share," which can veto all other shares if an attempt is made to alter any of the rules relating to the Reuters Trust Principles. These principles set out the company's aims of independence, integrity, and freedom from bias in its news reporting. Subsequent to the forming of Thomson Reuters the trust principles continued, with the RFSC now holding a Founders Share in each of Thomson Reuters Corporation and Thomson Reuters PLC.
, widening the range of its business products and global reporting network for media, financial and economic services. In 1988, Reuters formed a joint-venture with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to build an automated futures trading system named "Globex" at a cost of over USD$100 million. Key product launches include 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). In the mid-1990s, the Reuters company engaged in a brief foray in the radio sector – with London Radio's two radio stations, London News 97.3 FM and London News Talk 1152 AM. A Reuters Radio News service was also set up to compete with the Independent Radio News
. In 1995, Reuters established its "Greenhouse Fund" to take minority investments in start-up technology companies, initially in the USA, only. In October 2007, Reuters Market Light
, a division of Reuters, launched a mobile phone service for Indian farmers to provide local and customised commodity
pricing information, news, and weather updates.
. The chief of Thomson Reuters is Tom Glocer
, the former head of Reuters. An earlier rule of 15-percent maximum ownership was waived; the reason as given by Pehr Gyllenhammar
, the chairman of the Reuters Founders Share Company, as that 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." citing the recent bad financial performance of the company. The acquisition was closed on 17 April 2008.
in a building designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. In 2005, Reuters moved to a larger building in the more modern Canary Wharf
. The Reuters Building at 30 South Colonnade is near the One Canada Square
tower, Jubilee Park and Canary Wharf tube station
. The open space below the Reuters building has since been renamed Reuters Plaza.
The company's North American headquarters were the Reuters Building at 3 Times Square
, New York. It is on Seventh Avenue
between 42nd and 43rd Streets, and was constructed from 1998 to 2001. Asian headquarters were located in Singapore
, having moved there from Hong Kong ahead of the British handover to China in 1997. It had two offices in Singapore, one in the city centre at One Raffles Quay, and another at 18 Science Park Drive next to the National University of Singapore.
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
media and financial information company headquartered 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...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It merged with The Thomson Corporation in 2008, forming Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corporation is a provider of information for the world's businesses and professionals and is created by the Thomson Corporation's purchase of Reuters Group on 17 April 2008. Thomson Reuters is headquartered at 3 Times Square, New York City, USA...
.
Reuters Group was best-known for the Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
news agency, which was the original business of the company. By the time of its merger with Thomson the bulk of Reuters Group's revenues came from the provision of financial market data, with news reporting
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
comprising less than 10% of its turnover.
Beginnings
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
– then in the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
, now in Germany – close to the borders with the Netherlands and Belgium. He began using the newly opened Berlin–Aachen telegraph line to send news to Berlin. However, the telegraph did not extend the 76 miles (122.3 km) to Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Belgium's capital city and financial center. Reuter saw an opportunity to speed up news service between Brussels and Berlin by using homing pigeon
Homing pigeon
The homing pigeon is a variety of domestic pigeon derived from the Rock Pigeon selectively bred to find its way home over extremely long distances. The wild rock pigeon has an innate homing ability, meaning that it will generally return to its own nest and its own mate...
s to bridge that gap.
In 1851, Reuter moved to London. After failures in 1847 and 1850, attempts by the Submarine Telegraph Company to lay an undersea telegraph cable across the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, from Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
to Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
, promised success. Reuter set up his "Submarine Telegraph" office in October 1851 just before the opening of that undersea cable in November, and he 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 exchanges in continental Europe
Continental Europe
Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....
in return for access to the London prices, which he then supplied to stockbrokers in Paris. In 1865, Reuter's private firm was restructured, and it became a limited company (a corporation) called the Reuter's Telegram Company. Reuter had been naturalised as a British subject
British subject
In British nationality law, the term British subject has at different times had different meanings. The current definition of the term British subject is contained in the British Nationality Act 1981.- Prior to 1949 :...
in 1857.
Reuter's agency built a reputation in Europe for being the first to report news scoops
Scoop (term)
Scoop is an informal term used in journalism. The word connotes originality, importance, surprise or excitement, secrecy and exclusivity.Stories likely considered to be scoops are important news, likely to interest or concern many people. A scoop is typically a new story, or a new aspect to an...
from abroad, such as 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...
’s assassination. Almost every major news outlet in the world now subscribes to Reuters' services, which operates in over 200 cities in 94 countries in about 20 languages.
The last surviving member of the Reuters family founders, Marguerite, Baroness de Reuter
Marguerite, Baroness de Reuter
Marguerite, Baroness de Reuter was a European aristocrat, who was the last survivor of the family which founded the Reuters news service....
, died at age 96 on 25 January 2009, after having suffered a series of strokes.
Initial public offering (IPO)
Reuters was financed as a public company in 1984 on the London Stock ExchangeLondon 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 on the 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...
in the United States. However, there were concerns that the company's tradition for objective reporting might be jeopardised if control of the company later fell into the hands of a single shareholder. To counter that possibility, the constitution of the company at the time of the stock offering included a rule that no individual was allowed to own more than 15% of the company. If this limit is exceeded, the directors can order the shareholder to reduce the holding to less than 15%. That rule was applied in the late 1980s when Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
's News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
, which already held around 15% of Reuters, bought an Australian news company that also owned stock in Reuters. Murdoch was subsequently compelled to reduce his holdings to less than 15%.
Further protecting Reuters from owner actions that might threaten its independence is Reuters Founders Share Company Limited, formed in 1984 as part of the share float. This company's stated mission is to protect the integrity of the company's news output. It holds one "Founders Share," which can veto all other shares if an attempt is made to alter any of the rules relating to the Reuters Trust Principles. These principles set out the company's aims of independence, integrity, and freedom from bias in its news reporting. Subsequent to the forming of Thomson Reuters the trust principles continued, with the RFSC now holding a Founders Share in each of Thomson Reuters Corporation and Thomson Reuters PLC.
Post-IPO expansion
Reuters grew rapidly after its 1984 IPOInitial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
, widening the range of its business products and global reporting network for media, financial and economic services. In 1988, Reuters formed a joint-venture with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to build an automated futures trading system named "Globex" at a cost of over USD$100 million. Key product launches include 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). In the mid-1990s, the Reuters company engaged in a brief foray in the radio sector – with London Radio's two radio stations, London News 97.3 FM and London News Talk 1152 AM. A Reuters Radio News service was also set up to compete with the Independent Radio News
Independent Radio News
Independent Radio News provides a service of news bulletins, audio and copy to commercial radio stations in the UK and beyond.The managing director of IRN is Tim Molloy, who succeeded long-term MD John Perkins in November 2009...
. In 1995, Reuters established its "Greenhouse Fund" to take minority investments in start-up technology companies, initially in the USA, only. In October 2007, Reuters Market Light
Reuters Market Light
Reuters Market Light is a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters India. RML was launched in the state of Maharashtra on October 1, 2007, by Sharad Pawar, the union minister of agriculture of India, and in October 2008 in the state of Punjab by Mr. Prakash Singh Badal, state’s chief minister...
, a division of Reuters, launched a mobile phone service for Indian farmers to provide local and customised commodity
Commodity
In economics, a commodity is the generic term for any marketable item produced to satisfy wants or needs. Economic commodities comprise goods and services....
pricing information, news, and weather updates.
Thomson merger
On 15 May 2007, Canada's The Thomson Corporation merged with Reuters in a deal valued at US$17.2 billion. Thomson now controls about 53 percent of the new company, named Thomson ReutersThomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corporation is a provider of information for the world's businesses and professionals and is created by the Thomson Corporation's purchase of Reuters Group on 17 April 2008. Thomson Reuters is headquartered at 3 Times Square, New York City, USA...
. The chief of Thomson Reuters 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...
, the former head of Reuters. An earlier rule of 15-percent maximum ownership was waived; the reason as given by 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...
, the chairman of the Reuters Founders Share Company, as that 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." citing the recent bad financial performance of the company. The acquisition was closed on 17 April 2008.
Acquisitions and investments
- Action Images – In September 2005, Reuters purchased North London-based Action Images, a collection of sports photography of more than 8 million images, of which 1.7 million are online.
- Application Networks – In June 2006, Reuters acquired Application Networks, Inc., a provider of trade and risk management software based on JRisk, and agreed to acquire Feri Fund Market Information Ltd (FERI FMI) and its fund database subsidiary, FI Datenservice GmbH (FID).
- AVT Technologies – In December 2002, Reuters announced that it would acquire AVT Technologies, a specialist in foreign exchange transaction technology. Concurrent with the deal, Reuters established an Automated Dealing Technologies business unit, headed up by Mark Redwood, CEO of AVT Technologies.
- Bridge Information Systems – On 28 September 2001, it completed the largest acquisition in its history with a partial acquisition of Bridge Information Systems Inc. Also during the year, the Group acquired 100% of Diagram fip SA and 92% of ProTrader Group LP. In October 2001, the Group disposed of its majority stake in VentureOne Corp.
- ClearForest – In June 2007, Reuters acquired ClearForestClearForestClearForest was a software company that develops and markets text analytics and text mining solutions. Founded in 1998, ClearForest has its headquarters just outside of Boston and has development in Israel near Tel Aviv. It was acquired by Reuters in April, 2007...
, a provider of Text Analytics solutions, whose tagging platform and analytical products allow clients to derive business information from textual content. - EcoWinEcoWinReuters EcoWin Pro is a provider of worldwide economic and financial market data. It is based in Gothenburg, Sweden, where it was founded in 1994. It has offices in London, Paris, New York and Gdańsk....
– In November 2005, Reuters acquired EcoWin, a GothenburgGothenburgGothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
(Sweden) based provider of global fianancial, equities, and economic data. - Factiva – In May 1999, Reuters entered a joint venture with rival Dow Jones & CompanyDow Jones & CompanyDow Jones & Company is an American publishing and financial information firm.The company was founded in 1882 by three reporters: Charles Dow, Edward Jones, and Charles Bergstresser. Like The New York Times and the Washington Post, the company was in recent years publicly traded but privately...
to form FactivaFactivaFactiva is a business information and research tool owned by Dow Jones & Company. Factiva aggregates content from both licensed and free sources, and provides organizations with search, alerting, dissemination, and other information management capabilities...
, a business news and information provider. In December 2006, Reuters sold its 50% share in Factiva to Dow Jones, who is now sole owner. - Instinet – After taking a minority stake in InstinetInstinetInstinet is an institutional, agency-only broker. As such, it executes trades for roughly 1,500 “buyside” clients such as asset management firms, hedge funds, insurance companies, mutual funds and pension funds...
in 1985, Reuters acquired the entire company in 1987. In May 2001, Reuters sold a minority stake in the firm via an IPO on NASDAQ, and in December 2005 sold the remainder of its share to NASDAQ and Silver Lake Partners. - Multex.com Inc. – In March 2003, Reuters acquired Multex.com, Inc., a provider of global financial information.
- TIBCO Software – In July 1999, TIBCO SoftwareTIBCO SoftwareTIBCO Software Inc. is a provider of infrastructure software for companies to use on-premise or as part of cloud computing environments. TIBCO manages information, decisions, processes and applications in real-time for over 4,000 customers worldwide...
completed an IPO on NASDAQ; Reuters retains a substantial proportion of the shares. Reuters announced, in early 2000, initiatives designed to migrate core business to an internet-based model.
Corporate locations
From 1939, corporate headquarters were in London's famous Fleet StreetFleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
in a building designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. In 2005, Reuters moved to a larger building in the more modern Canary Wharf
Canary Wharf
Canary Wharf is a major business district located in London, United Kingdom. It is one of London's two main financial centres, alongside the traditional City of London, and contains many of the UK's tallest buildings, including the second-tallest , One Canada Square...
. The Reuters Building at 30 South Colonnade is near the One Canada Square
One Canada Square
One Canada Square is a skyscraper in Canary Wharf in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is the tallest completed building in the United Kingdom since 1991, standing at above ground level and containing 50 storeys...
tower, Jubilee Park and Canary Wharf tube station
Canary Wharf tube station
Canary Wharf tube station is a London Underground station on the Jubilee Line, between and . It is in Travelcard Zone 2 and was opened by Ken Livingstone setting an escalator in motion on 17 September 1999 as part of the Jubilee Line Extension. It is maintained by Tube Lines...
. The open space below the Reuters building has since been renamed Reuters Plaza.
The company's North American headquarters were the Reuters Building 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. It is on Seventh Avenue
Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)
Seventh Avenue, known as Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard north of Central Park, is a thoroughfare on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is southbound below Central Park and a two-way street north of the park....
between 42nd and 43rd Streets, and was constructed from 1998 to 2001. Asian headquarters were located in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, having moved there from Hong Kong ahead of the British handover to China in 1997. It had two offices in Singapore, one in the city centre at One Raffles Quay, and another at 18 Science Park Drive next to the National University of Singapore.