Bloomberg
New Bloomberg terminal raises questions at Thomson Reuters
Monday 27 February 2012
Bloomberg’s new $100 million user interface is aimed at making its flagship terminal more intuitive and easier for financial clients to search for data and news. It is part of an effort to connect with a new generation of traders who grew up on internet browsers and are more comfortable using a mouse than the company’s customised keyboard.
“Bloomberg will get press coverage and attention on this announcement, and we expect comparisons to be made to Thomson Reuters in the media,” Craig told staff on Monday. “In addition, clients may have questions.”
Craid added: “With financial & risk now into its third month as a business, we’re already delivering concrete wins for our customers.” He drew attention to print and banner advertising in the Financial Times “demonstrating ownership of the ‘Next’ brand and providing great visibility for Thomson Reuters”. The advertisements promote Westlaw Next, a product for the group’s legal customer base.
“We continue to set the pace in our industry in terms of using new, open technologies to deliver easier navigation, better search and more choice – all things our customers for both WestLaw Next and Eikon value enormously,” he said.
Thomson Reuters’ Eikon terminal, designed as a platform for dozens of disparate products that resulted from Thomson’s 2008 acquisition of Reuters, was introduced in September 2010. It also offers easier search features and allows customers to build different applications to customise it for their needs. Sales have disappointed Thomson Reuters shareholders, however. The company has more than 400,000 end users across its range of desktop products, of which 40,000 have signed up for Eikon, including 16,000 that have installed the product and are considered active users.
Bloomberg edged out Thomson Reuters last year in the $25 billion sector for market data and analysis, taking a 30.44 per cent share compared with Thomson Reuters’ 30.05 per cent according to New York consulting firm Burton-Taylor International. Thomson Reuters said the Burton-Taylor survey focused on terminal sales and did not reflect other market segments the company serves in the financial & risk unit, where revenue also comes from sales of feeds, foreign exchange products and compliance and regulatory products.
● SOURCE Reuters | Paid Content
Bloomberg market share edges ahead of Thomson Reuters - US report
Friday 24 February 2012
Bloomberg pulled ahead of Thomson Reuters in their share of the market data and analysis industry for the first time in 2011, according to a US report.
Bloomberg had a market share of 30.44 per cent last year compared with Thomson Reuters’ 30.05 per cent, the report by Burton-Taylor International Consulting said.
Crains New York Business said Bloomberg’s move into first place “has coincided with troubles at Thomson Reuters, which replaced its CEO at the end of last year following disappointing results for the Eikon market-data desktop product that the company launched in 2010”.
Overall spending on market data and analysis reached a new high in 2011, growing 6.1 per cent over the prior year to $24.94 billion, according to Burton-Taylor. Even so, the year ended on a down note amid “uncertainty in the Western European economies and late-year contraction by market data users,” Douglas Taylor, managing partner of Burton-Taylor, said in a statement.
“Much of the revenue growth was the result of price increases, currency conversions, and non-data related turnover such as transaction fees,” he said.
Bloomberg has been gaining on its rival for years, Crains said. In 2007, the year Thomson and Reuters agreed to merge, Bloomberg had 26 per cent of the market, against Thomson Reuters’ 36 per cent.
“Completed in 2008, the merger made the global giant less competitive for a while, as management focused on integrating two companies in what would soon become a tough economic climate. And by the time Eikon was launched, its customer base was still recovering from a devastating recession.
“‘They were trying to rebuild a new company and build a new product at the same time,’ Mr. Taylor said in an interview. ‘Bloomberg, even in difficult economic times, sticks to its knitting’.”
A spokesman for Thomson Reuters declined to comment, Crains said.
● SOURCE Crains
Bloomberg had a market share of 30.44 per cent last year compared with Thomson Reuters’ 30.05 per cent, the report by Burton-Taylor International Consulting said.
Crains New York Business said Bloomberg’s move into first place “has coincided with troubles at Thomson Reuters, which replaced its CEO at the end of last year following disappointing results for the Eikon market-data desktop product that the company launched in 2010”.
Overall spending on market data and analysis reached a new high in 2011, growing 6.1 per cent over the prior year to $24.94 billion, according to Burton-Taylor. Even so, the year ended on a down note amid “uncertainty in the Western European economies and late-year contraction by market data users,” Douglas Taylor, managing partner of Burton-Taylor, said in a statement.
“Much of the revenue growth was the result of price increases, currency conversions, and non-data related turnover such as transaction fees,” he said.
Bloomberg has been gaining on its rival for years, Crains said. In 2007, the year Thomson and Reuters agreed to merge, Bloomberg had 26 per cent of the market, against Thomson Reuters’ 36 per cent.
“Completed in 2008, the merger made the global giant less competitive for a while, as management focused on integrating two companies in what would soon become a tough economic climate. And by the time Eikon was launched, its customer base was still recovering from a devastating recession.
“‘They were trying to rebuild a new company and build a new product at the same time,’ Mr. Taylor said in an interview. ‘Bloomberg, even in difficult economic times, sticks to its knitting’.”
A spokesman for Thomson Reuters declined to comment, Crains said.
● SOURCE Crains
Thomson Reuters holds lead in market data race
Friday 03 February 2012
Thomson Reuters remains ahead of its rival market data providers in the $24.5 billion global financial information business but Bloomberg is catching up despite the downturn in financial markets that has hit their revenues.
Thomson Reuters leads with about $7.6 billion and Bloomberg is next with about $7.3 billion. The two are the market leaders by far with about two-thirds of the total market for financial information, according to a commentary in Forbes magazine.
“If current trends continue with banks cutting staff and spending, 2012 is shaping up to be a tough year in finance,” said Tom Groenfeldt, a writer on finance and technology.
● SOURCE Forbes
Thomson Reuters leads with about $7.6 billion and Bloomberg is next with about $7.3 billion. The two are the market leaders by far with about two-thirds of the total market for financial information, according to a commentary in Forbes magazine.
“If current trends continue with banks cutting staff and spending, 2012 is shaping up to be a tough year in finance,” said Tom Groenfeldt, a writer on finance and technology.
● SOURCE Forbes
Bloomberg to open new front in war with Thomson Reuters
Wednesday 01 February 2012
Bloomberg is set to launch a new front in its war with Thomson Reuters by offering a free and open software interface that aims to bypass RICs, the lucrative code for identifying securities on terminals.
The New York-based group has developed a tool that allows financial institutions, rival data vendors and software developers to connect and adapt their increasingly complex trading and data connections through a single source at no cost, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
It also represents part of Bloomberg’s push to build on Thomson Reuters’ long-running dispute with European anti-trust officials into the market access codes.
At the same time the increasing automation of trading is putting pressure on providers of market data terminals to open up their data feeds. The fragmentation of markets into new trading platforms has forced many investors to connect to multiple data feeds, ratcheting up their IT costs. By offering a free interface, Bloomberg is hoping to to provide a tool that allows investors to both cut costs and circumvent its rivals’ market access codes and win market share.
“Bloomberg is a fierce competitor to Thomson Reuters, which two months ago announced that Tom Glocer would stand down as chief executive to be succeeded by Jim Smith, a long-time Thomson executive with a mandate to improve its core financial data product, Eikon, and technology and customer service,” the FT reported. “Burton-Taylor Consulting has estimated that Bloomberg has gained market share on Thomson Reuters in the last four years.”
RICs – Reuters Instrument Codes – are short alphanumeric codes that identify financial instruments and their trading locations, and are used by banks, brokers and other financial institutions to convert information from Thomson Reuters market data feeds.
But they could not be used to translate data from rival market vendors like Bloomberg or Fidessa, a process known as mapping. The European Commission is examining whether customers could be locked into working with Thomson Reuters because rewriting software to replace RICs could be lengthy and costly, the FT said.
“Bloomberg’s move could force Thomson Reuters to further weaken its policy on RICs and push the US data group into hitherto closed markets. ‘We sell market-data services. We want these systems to be easy to use,’ Shawn Edwards, chief technology officer at Bloomberg, told the Financial Times.”
Last month Thomson Reuters proposed to the European Commission that it allow customers to licence additional usage rights for RICs and provide them with information to map RICs to rivals’ codes. The move could make it easier for financial institutions to switch between different data providers and help Thomson Reuters avoid a potential fine.
● SOURCE Financial Times
The New York-based group has developed a tool that allows financial institutions, rival data vendors and software developers to connect and adapt their increasingly complex trading and data connections through a single source at no cost, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
It also represents part of Bloomberg’s push to build on Thomson Reuters’ long-running dispute with European anti-trust officials into the market access codes.
At the same time the increasing automation of trading is putting pressure on providers of market data terminals to open up their data feeds. The fragmentation of markets into new trading platforms has forced many investors to connect to multiple data feeds, ratcheting up their IT costs. By offering a free interface, Bloomberg is hoping to to provide a tool that allows investors to both cut costs and circumvent its rivals’ market access codes and win market share.
“Bloomberg is a fierce competitor to Thomson Reuters, which two months ago announced that Tom Glocer would stand down as chief executive to be succeeded by Jim Smith, a long-time Thomson executive with a mandate to improve its core financial data product, Eikon, and technology and customer service,” the FT reported. “Burton-Taylor Consulting has estimated that Bloomberg has gained market share on Thomson Reuters in the last four years.”
RICs – Reuters Instrument Codes – are short alphanumeric codes that identify financial instruments and their trading locations, and are used by banks, brokers and other financial institutions to convert information from Thomson Reuters market data feeds.
But they could not be used to translate data from rival market vendors like Bloomberg or Fidessa, a process known as mapping. The European Commission is examining whether customers could be locked into working with Thomson Reuters because rewriting software to replace RICs could be lengthy and costly, the FT said.
“Bloomberg’s move could force Thomson Reuters to further weaken its policy on RICs and push the US data group into hitherto closed markets. ‘We sell market-data services. We want these systems to be easy to use,’ Shawn Edwards, chief technology officer at Bloomberg, told the Financial Times.”
Last month Thomson Reuters proposed to the European Commission that it allow customers to licence additional usage rights for RICs and provide them with information to map RICs to rivals’ codes. The move could make it easier for financial institutions to switch between different data providers and help Thomson Reuters avoid a potential fine.
● SOURCE Financial Times
Bloomberg v Thomson Reuters battle about to get bloodier - WSJ
Monday 14 November 2011
Retrenchments on Wall Street are likely to hurt the market for financial data, intensifying competition between Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Steps the two firms took to diversify in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis are being tested.
The $23.7 billion global market for financial data is expected to grow only about two per cent this year, according to market data research and consulting firm Burton-Taylor International Consulting, down from 4.2 per cent growth last year, the Journal said. While the market shrank slightly in 2009, it grew in the low double-digits from 2006 to 2008.
These businesses tend to ebb and flow with Wall Street employment. The global finance industry is downsizing as firms brace for a prolonged slowdown due to weak growth, tighter regulations and instability in Europe.
Bloomberg so far has managed to sharply outperform the broader market. It expects 2011 revenue to rise about 11 per cent to $7.6 billion, chief executive Dan Doctoroff said. Revenue rose 10 per cent last year, when the company topped 300,000 subscribers to its terminal, a bundle of financial data, tools and news that costs subscribers about $20,000 a year. Thomson Reuters offers its comparable product for about the same price, though cost varies depending on features, the Journal said.
It said Burton-Taylor estimates Bloomberg lifted its share of the overall market to 30.3 per cent last year from 25.1 per cent in 2005. In contrast, Thomson Reuters’ share slid to 33.2 per cent last year from 37.4 per cent in 2005. Thomson Reuters’ stock is down about 20 per cent year-to-date.
Bloomberg executives said the company likely will slow hiring in 2012 after increasing the size of its work force by about 35 per cent over the past three years. “We feel like we need to give the organization a little more time to breathe,” Doctoroff said.
Thomson Reuters’ financial services business, which has a little more than 400,000 customers of various desktop products, increased revenue 5.5 per cent to $5.64 billion in the year’s first nine months.
“The financial-services division, which accounts for just over half of Thomson Reuters’s revenue, has stumbled amid the disappointing performance of Eikon, its new desktop offering for financial professionals,” the Journal said. “The product now has about 8,000 active users a year after its launch, which it said was slower than expected. Executives said recently that a recent reorganization of the Markets division is likely to improve sales in 2012, though it won’t drive revenue growth in Markets until 2013.”
Chief executive Tom Glocer said Eikon started slowly in part because the product wasn’t ready for “every type of user at every institution”. An upgrade is pending. He also said Eikon was just one of several investments that overall have helped revenue in markets edge up in the most recent quarter ended 30 September.
Meanwhile, the professional division, which serves the legal, tax and accounting industries, increased revenue by 10 per cent to $3.93 billion during the first nine months.
“Thomson Reuters, Mr. Glocer said, has recognized for a long time the trend toward ‘fewer bums on seats’ in the financial-services sector and has shifted dollars to fast-growing areas such as governance risk and compliance, which helps financial institutions cope with growing regulatory burdens,” the Journal reported.
“I think we’re well positioned even in a downturn because of the other weapons we have,” Mr. Glocer said. Thomson Reuters spent about $850 million last year on acquisitions across its businesses.
● SOURCE The Wall Street Journal
The $23.7 billion global market for financial data is expected to grow only about two per cent this year, according to market data research and consulting firm Burton-Taylor International Consulting, down from 4.2 per cent growth last year, the Journal said. While the market shrank slightly in 2009, it grew in the low double-digits from 2006 to 2008.
These businesses tend to ebb and flow with Wall Street employment. The global finance industry is downsizing as firms brace for a prolonged slowdown due to weak growth, tighter regulations and instability in Europe.
Bloomberg so far has managed to sharply outperform the broader market. It expects 2011 revenue to rise about 11 per cent to $7.6 billion, chief executive Dan Doctoroff said. Revenue rose 10 per cent last year, when the company topped 300,000 subscribers to its terminal, a bundle of financial data, tools and news that costs subscribers about $20,000 a year. Thomson Reuters offers its comparable product for about the same price, though cost varies depending on features, the Journal said.
It said Burton-Taylor estimates Bloomberg lifted its share of the overall market to 30.3 per cent last year from 25.1 per cent in 2005. In contrast, Thomson Reuters’ share slid to 33.2 per cent last year from 37.4 per cent in 2005. Thomson Reuters’ stock is down about 20 per cent year-to-date.
Bloomberg executives said the company likely will slow hiring in 2012 after increasing the size of its work force by about 35 per cent over the past three years. “We feel like we need to give the organization a little more time to breathe,” Doctoroff said.
Thomson Reuters’ financial services business, which has a little more than 400,000 customers of various desktop products, increased revenue 5.5 per cent to $5.64 billion in the year’s first nine months.
“The financial-services division, which accounts for just over half of Thomson Reuters’s revenue, has stumbled amid the disappointing performance of Eikon, its new desktop offering for financial professionals,” the Journal said. “The product now has about 8,000 active users a year after its launch, which it said was slower than expected. Executives said recently that a recent reorganization of the Markets division is likely to improve sales in 2012, though it won’t drive revenue growth in Markets until 2013.”
Chief executive Tom Glocer said Eikon started slowly in part because the product wasn’t ready for “every type of user at every institution”. An upgrade is pending. He also said Eikon was just one of several investments that overall have helped revenue in markets edge up in the most recent quarter ended 30 September.
Meanwhile, the professional division, which serves the legal, tax and accounting industries, increased revenue by 10 per cent to $3.93 billion during the first nine months.
“Thomson Reuters, Mr. Glocer said, has recognized for a long time the trend toward ‘fewer bums on seats’ in the financial-services sector and has shifted dollars to fast-growing areas such as governance risk and compliance, which helps financial institutions cope with growing regulatory burdens,” the Journal reported.
“I think we’re well positioned even in a downturn because of the other weapons we have,” Mr. Glocer said. Thomson Reuters spent about $850 million last year on acquisitions across its businesses.
● SOURCE The Wall Street Journal
NY Guild invokes Bloomberg in TR contract dispute
Monday 12 July 2010
The Newspaper Guild of New York, which represents some Thomson Reuters employees, has recorded a radio spot to be aired on stations WINS and WCBS AM asking listeners to complain to Bloomberg, founder and owner of Thomson Reuters' main rival financial information business.
The 30-second spot says: "Media giant Thomson Reuters was supposed to create hundreds of new jobs to get $26 million dollars in New York tax breaks. But now the company is cutting pay and benefits for hundreds of its employees." It asks why a foreign company should get tax breaks in tough times and says voters ought to call the mayor's office to protest.
The union says Thomson Reuters has asked New York City’s Independent Development Agency to divert an unspecified, unused portion of the $26 million it received in 1998 to seven leased Manhattan locations. The tax breaks were given to Reuters to persuade it to build its US headquarters at 3 Times Square ten years before the 2008 takeover by Thomson and were intended to spur job creation. The Guild lists ten reasons why the company’s request should be denied.
Among those reasons are that the company does not need the money. "Unlike New York City and State right now, Thomson Reuters is a healthy, profitable company."
Also, says the union, Reuters has moved hundreds of jobs out of the city to other US and Canadian locations and covers Wall Street from Bangalore, India. Instead of beefing up its New York-based financial reporting team, says the Guild, the company created more than 100 reporting jobs in Bangalore where it has said wages are one-fourth to one-sixth of those in New York. Most of the Bangalore journalists report on US-based companies and, recently, US commodity markets, the Guild said.
Guild president Bill O’Meara said the purpose of the tax subsidies was to encourage good employers to stay in New York and provide good jobs for the people who live there. “By cutting the compensation of our members and shipping good jobs out of the city, the company has been anything but a good employer deserving of scarce public resources at this difficult economic time.”
Earlier this year the union filed a complaint with the US National Labor Relations Board accusing Thomson Reuters of planning to cut wages of reporters and other employees by an average of 10 per cent this year without Guild consent. Thomson Reuters disputed the figure, saying it was guaranteeing a 0.5 per cent increase for the 400-plus US journalists represented by the union at Reuters News. Some would get bigger raises.
The New York Daily News on Monday quoted Thomson Reuters spokeswoman Courtney Dolan saying: “Since October 2008 the Newspaper Guild of NY, which represents approximately 440 employees out of more than 3,700 Thomson Reuters employees in NYC, has refused to put a single, comprehensive offer on the table. As a result, Reuters declared an impasse in January 2010 in accordance with applicable law. Reuters stands behind its position and is committed to moving the organization forward. We look forward to the day when the Guild directs its efforts to returning to the bargaining table with a meaningful counterproposal to our best offer instead of creating misleading videos and radio ads.“
● SOURCE New York Daily News | Reuters Exposed | AUDIO
