Thomson Reuters the result of a metamorphosis

Ian Austin of the New York Times writes Thursday about how Thomson Corp. has remade itself by focusing on data and information that people need for their jobs, a strategy that comes complete with the Reuters acquisition.

Austin writes, “Thomson’s desire to raise its public profile as it completes the $16.6 billion transaction is partly a reflection of an era when information has never been so accessible and the struggle to maintain profitability at the companies that provide it, particularly among incumbents, has never been more difficult.

“’In the simplest terms, we see this as the opportunity to be the new power brand in the global information industry,’ said Gustav Carlson, Thomson Reuters’ chief marketing officer. ‘We don’t simply accumulate data. Thomson’s strategic evolution has been from print to digital and now into a supplier of intelligent information.’

“Thomson’s newspaper holdings once included The Times of London, The Globe and Mail in Toronto and an array of less distinguished smaller newspapers. But as it abandoned paper for digital publishing, Thomson became the antithesis of companies like Google that treat information as a no-cost commodity for selling advertising.

“Instead, Thomson has focused on building vast databases of material that is dull to most people but of great value to professionals, and the company charges them accordingly. More recently, that data has been integrated into systems that sift through it, organize it and, in some cases, make suggestions to users about actions to take. A litigation lawyer researching a case involving asbestosis through the company’s Westlaw service, for example, will be presented with information from Thomson Scientific about the disease along with legal decisions related to it.”

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