July 23, 2011

The Wall Street Journal

Thomson Reuters Loses More Executives

Thomson Reuters Corp. shed more executives amid the continued fallout of a shake-up at one of the financial-data company's key divisions.

The company said Friday that five executives are leaving, including Chris Ahearn, the top business executive for its news operations.

Thomson Reuters said it is combining duties of some executives as part of a "streamlining" effort.  The company attributed Mr. Ahearn's departure to a reorganization announced Thursday in its markets division, which included the departure of Devin Wenig, the division's top executive.  The company's chief executive, Tom Glocer, will oversee the markets division for now.

 
Mr. Ahearn couldn't be reached at his Thomson Reuters work telephone, or on his cellphone.

Shares of Thomson Reuters fell 3.1% Friday to $35.51 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Thomson Reuters competes with news organizations such as The Wall Street Journal's publisher, Dow Jones & Co., and Bloomberg LP, which like Thomson sells subscriptions for a bundle of news and market data delivered through desktop computing terminals.  Thomson Reuters also sells data, news and information to firms in the legal, health-care, tax and accounting professions.

 
The markets division -- which provides news, financial data and other services to traders, Wall Street firms and financial professionals -- accounts for more than half of Thomson Reuters's revenue and profits.

Analysts said the reorganization and staff departures fueled concerns that Thomson Reuters had lost ground to rivals.  The shake-up also underscores the company's integration struggles more than three years after it was created in a merger of Canada's Thomson Corp. and Reuters Group PLC of the U.K.

Spending on financial data and analysis reached $23.7 billion last year, a 4.2% increase from 2009, according to Douglas B Taylor, managing partner of market-data research and consulting firm Burton-Taylor International Consulting LLC.

Mr. Taylor estimates Thomson Reuters lost market share in the business of selling financial-data terminals while Bloomberg LP and FactSet Research Systems Inc. gained share.

Thomson Reuters declined to comment on market share or the company's financial performance.

On Thursday, the company said growth in its markets division was somewhat slower than it expected in the second quarter, while sales were strong in its division selling legal, science, tax and accounting information.
by Shira Ovide