Reuters

Who owns Reuters?
Reuters is a division of Thomson Reuters Corporation, a publicly traded Canadian multinational company. Thomson Reuters is controlled by the Woodbridge Company (Thomson family), which holds approximately 70% of the company's shares. Thomson Reuters trades on NYSE and TSX under ticker TRI.

When was Reuters founded?
Reuters was founded in 1851 by Paul Julius Reuter in London. Reuter initially used carrier pigeons to transmit stock prices before establishing a telegraph-based news service.

When did Thomson Reuters acquire Reuters?
Thomson Reuters completed its acquisition of Reuters in April 2008, through a merger between The Thomson Corporation and Reuters Group PLC valued at approximately $17.25 billion.

Is Reuters editorially independent?
Reuters maintains formal editorial independence as a division of Thomson Reuters, governed by the Reuters Trust Principles. Editorial decisions are made by Reuters journalists and editors, though the organization is ultimately owned and controlled by Thomson Reuters.

What is the difference between Reuters and Thomson Reuters?
Reuters is the news agency division of Thomson Reuters Corporation. Thomson Reuters is the parent company, which also operates legal (Westlaw), tax and accounting (Checkpoint), and other professional information businesses. Thomson Reuters is publicly traded on NYSE and TSX under ticker TRI.

Reuters was founded in 1851 by Paul Julius Reuter, a German-born entrepreneur who established a news agency in London. Reuter initially used carrier pigeons to transmit stock prices between Brussels and Aachen, bridging a gap in the telegraph network. He then established a telegraph-based news service in London, providing financial news to banks and brokers.

Reuters expanded rapidly through the second half of the 19th century, establishing bureaus across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The agency became one of the world's most important sources of international news, providing coverage to newspapers and financial institutions globally.

Throughout the 20th century, Reuters expanded its financial data services alongside its news operations. The company became a major provider of real-time market data, trading platforms, and financial analytics, serving banks, investment firms, and other financial institutions.

Reuters went public on the London Stock Exchange in 1984, raising capital to fund its technology investments. The company continued to expand its financial data business through the 1990s and 2000s, competing with Bloomberg and other financial data providers.

The Thomson Corporation, a Canadian media and information company controlled by the Thomson family, announced a merger with Reuters Group PLC in May 2007. The deal was completed in April 2008, creating Thomson Reuters Corporation. The Thomson family's Woodbridge Company retained approximately 70% of the combined company.

Following the merger, Thomson Reuters reorganized its operations around its core professional information businesses: legal (Westlaw, Practical Law), tax and accounting (Checkpoint), corporates (Practical Law, Contract Express), and Reuters News. The company sold its financial and risk business to a private equity consortium in 2018, which was rebranded as Refinitiv. Refinitiv was subsequently acquired by the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) in 2021.

For full-year 2024, Thomson Reuters reported revenue of approximately $7 billion, with growth driven by its legal, tax and accounting, and corporates segments.

Reuters has faced criticism regarding its editorial independence as a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters, with some observers questioning whether commercial pressures from the parent company affect news coverage. Reuters maintains a formal editorial independence policy and a Reuters Trust Principles document that is intended to protect editorial independence.

Thomson Reuters has faced scrutiny regarding the sale of its financial and risk business (Refinitiv) to LSEG, which some analysts viewed as a strategic retreat from the financial data market.