Thomson Reuters begins search for new CEO

Thomson Reuters has begun the search for a chief executive to succeed Jim Smith, who has led the professional information group since 2012, reports the Financial Times.

Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, Anna Nicolau and Alex Barker report, “Four people with knowledge of the succession process said the Canadian company’s board had appointed Spencer Stuart, the search firm, to draw up a shortlist of internal and external candidates. The search was at an early stage, one said, with the handover unlikely to happen this year.

“Two of those people said that Neil Masterson, the co-chief operating officer responsible for commercial and technology operations, was an internal contender. Mr Masterson is one of the few executives at the company who had worked for both Thomson Corporation and Reuters before the Canadian company’s $17bn takeover of the UK financial data group which formed Thomson Reuters in 2008.

“Mr Smith, 60, oversaw the sale of the finance and risk business formed from combining Reuters with the Toronto group’s Thomson Financial division. In a two-stage deal, it first sold a majority stake in the financial data business to a Blackstone-backed consortium for $17bn and then, this summer, it agreed the sale of the renamed Refinitiv to the London Stock Exchange for $27bn.”

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