Thomson Reuters brushes off suitors for the news wire

Thomson Reuters has rebuffed takeover interest in its Reuters news wire, betting instead on a dealmaking media executive to turn round the 168-year-old business, reports Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, Anna Nicolau, James Fontanella-Khan and Alex Barker of the Financial Times.

Edgecliffe-Johnson, Nicolau, Fontanella-Khan and Barker report, “Several would-be buyers have approached the company and intermediaries in recent months, the people said, adding that KKR-backed German media business Axel Springer and a group of individuals including former Reuters editor-in-chief and ITN boss Mark Wood were among the interested parties.

“No talks are active and hurdles may make a deal impossible, according to the people. But they said the suitors saw an opportunity to burnish a trusted, but low-margin global news brand, at a time of flux at its parent company.

“Thomson Reuters, Axel Springer and Mr Wood declined to comment.

“Some would-be suitors see Reuters News as an orphan asset after Thomson Reuters last year sold a majority stake in its financial data business to Blackstone for $17bn. The news operation contributes less than 3 per cent of group earnings and sits in a company now dominated by legal and corporate services.”

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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.