Reuters' focus will move away from journalism

James Harding, business editor of The Times of London, writes that the proposed deal where Thomson Corp. is acquiring Reuters Group Plc signals that the business wire service’s focus is shifting away from journalism.

Harding wrote, “The combination of Reuters and Thomson Corporation marks a fundamental shift in the nature of the company away from its roots in journalism and into a future of financial analytics. The combined company will be able to provide not only more real-time data to more customers, but also more financial and corporate archives. In short, it will offer a wider and deeper trading platform for financial professionals.

“For the people at Reuters, who have been breaking news before everyone else ever since Abraham Lincoln was shot in 1865, this transformation will not come as a surprise.

“Since he took over as Reuters chief executive in 2000, Mr Glocer has cut costs and focused the company on financial data services. In particular, he has been looking to position the company beyond subscription revenue from the sale of Reuters information feeds and into the kind of data delivery that puts the company in the middle of financial transactions from which it can exact a percentage fee.”

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