Categories: OLD Media Moves

Reuters parent names COO, layoffs could be coming

Thomson Reuters Corp., the parent of the Reuters news service, named Jim Smith as chief operating officer and said it would merge its two main divisions, Markets and Professional, as it streamlines to better compete in tough financial markets.

Jennifer Saba of Reuters writes, “The news and information company has undergone a series of shakeups this year as revenue growth slowed in the Markets division and it struggled to persuade traders and bankers to adopt Eikon, its new flagship desktop.

“Chief Executive Tom Glocer said the revamp, which puts Smith in a strong position to eventually take over as CEO, was meant to ‘capture operating efficiencies from scale.’

“There may be some management layoffs as a result, he said, although he declined to give a number.

“Smith, whose appointment is effective immediately, was previously the CEO of the Professional division, which sells legal, tax and accounting products such as WestlawNext.

“Glocer said that having two big standalone organizations within Thomson Reuters had been an impediment to running the company, which was created in 2008 when Thomson Corp bought Reuters Holdings Plc.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.