Devin Wenig
FT awards Devin Wenig, ex-markets CEO, for jargon
Thursday 12 January 2012
Wenig, pictured, receives the FT’s so-called guff award for the most spurious use of percentages over 100 per cent, said the newspaper’s associate editor, Lucy Kellaway.
Now eBay’s president of global marketplaces business, “He said he was a mere ‘1,000 per cent committed’ to his new job but added an explanation that craftily kept up the mathematical theme. ‘At this point in my career, a big platform, big brand, and global impact were all part of what I was solving for in prioritising opportunities’”.
● SOURCE Financial Times | AUDIO
Thomson Reuters remains committed to Eikon - product chief
Thursday 29 December 2011
Thomson Reuters is committed to Eikon, the market data desktop launched with much fanfare in 2010 but poorly received by its target customers, and will be rolling out new capabilities in 2012, the company executive in charge of the product said in an interview on Thursday.
“It is still clear to me that the product is the future of the company and that commitment has never waned,” said Philip Brittan, who joined the firm in May and now runs its Eikon group as global head of desktop/mobile platform. “I think it’s exactly the right strategy to bring all of our customers onto one single platform and allow our customers to leverage that set of assets in a much more powerful and flexible way.”
Market observers say a confluence of factors contributed to Eikon’s sluggish start, the website Wall Street & Technology said.
It said that with the news that chief executive Tom Glocer is stepping down, the industry is questioning what went wrong with Eikon. Thomson Reuters had high expectations for it, reportedly investing close to $1 billion in the product, holding launch celebrations in 78 offices worldwide and live events in 14 cities that brought in Wall Street decision makers for demonstrations and executive speeches. An advertising campaign – the company’s largest in its history – touted the product as a market data platform for “The New Eikons of Finance”.
All seemed to be going well. Members of the executive team even rang the New York Stock Exchange opening bell on October 4, 2010, and Devin Wenig, CEO of the markets division, gave interviews.
“Nine months later Wenig unexpectedly quit along with five key members of staff, after reportedly being asked to make faster and more extensive structural changes than planned. A few months later Glocer expressed regret for the fast pace of Eikon’s launch, and one month after that in early December, the company announced Glocer’s replacement.”
Industry experts say that it was a confluence of factors. “In an economy where cost cutting is rampant on Wall Street, it’s hard for any company to make a major platform switch,” says one industry executive, who requested anonymity. In addition to the cost of the new platform, there are integration and training costs associated with a major platform change. These costs are not easy to swallow in a difficult economic environment.
The executive added: “Eikon was not nearly as successful as Thomson Reuters would have liked, which is to a certain extent why Devin is gone and I’m sure had something to do with Glocer leaving.”
But Brittan says Eikon is exactly where it should be according to the company’s metrics. He admits, as with any new product, there was some “teething” that had to be worked through early on. “There is a process to maturing technology and getting the early kinks worked out,” Brittan says. “There was no one smoking gun that everyone experienced, just some little things like ‘this isn’t showing up right’ or ‘when I do this giant flex sheet it uses a lot of memory,’ or ‘the layout on screen isn’t how I want it’.” These things were fixed very quickly, he said.
Brittan says speed was another issue that came up early during the release. “Speed is something that we are constantly optimising,” he says. “Speed of retrieval of news stories was sluggish according to some, and now it is multiples faster. Creating charts and downloading data into excel, all these things are dramatically faster.
“The product we have out today is dramatically different from the Version 1 roll out of a year ago,” he explains. “The initial product had some gaps, which we’ve been filling.”
Brittan adds: “Our goal is still to transition existing customers to Eikon and to best serve our customers. We’ve got new customers and we’ve got a bunch of customers who have successfully migrated over. We’re not forcing customers to change. We realise it’s an organic thing. We will naturally see the migration in time if the product is the best product. It is relatively new just one year out, so we will move customers at the pace that they want to move.”
What’s next? “We'll be rolling out new capabilities on close to a monthly basis. And in six months we’ll have a bunch of new capabilities. I don't want to talk about them. I just plan to deliver them.”
● SOURCE Wall Street & Technology
“It is still clear to me that the product is the future of the company and that commitment has never waned,” said Philip Brittan, who joined the firm in May and now runs its Eikon group as global head of desktop/mobile platform. “I think it’s exactly the right strategy to bring all of our customers onto one single platform and allow our customers to leverage that set of assets in a much more powerful and flexible way.”
Market observers say a confluence of factors contributed to Eikon’s sluggish start, the website Wall Street & Technology said.
It said that with the news that chief executive Tom Glocer is stepping down, the industry is questioning what went wrong with Eikon. Thomson Reuters had high expectations for it, reportedly investing close to $1 billion in the product, holding launch celebrations in 78 offices worldwide and live events in 14 cities that brought in Wall Street decision makers for demonstrations and executive speeches. An advertising campaign – the company’s largest in its history – touted the product as a market data platform for “The New Eikons of Finance”.
All seemed to be going well. Members of the executive team even rang the New York Stock Exchange opening bell on October 4, 2010, and Devin Wenig, CEO of the markets division, gave interviews.
“Nine months later Wenig unexpectedly quit along with five key members of staff, after reportedly being asked to make faster and more extensive structural changes than planned. A few months later Glocer expressed regret for the fast pace of Eikon’s launch, and one month after that in early December, the company announced Glocer’s replacement.”
Industry experts say that it was a confluence of factors. “In an economy where cost cutting is rampant on Wall Street, it’s hard for any company to make a major platform switch,” says one industry executive, who requested anonymity. In addition to the cost of the new platform, there are integration and training costs associated with a major platform change. These costs are not easy to swallow in a difficult economic environment.
The executive added: “Eikon was not nearly as successful as Thomson Reuters would have liked, which is to a certain extent why Devin is gone and I’m sure had something to do with Glocer leaving.”
But Brittan says Eikon is exactly where it should be according to the company’s metrics. He admits, as with any new product, there was some “teething” that had to be worked through early on. “There is a process to maturing technology and getting the early kinks worked out,” Brittan says. “There was no one smoking gun that everyone experienced, just some little things like ‘this isn’t showing up right’ or ‘when I do this giant flex sheet it uses a lot of memory,’ or ‘the layout on screen isn’t how I want it’.” These things were fixed very quickly, he said.
Brittan says speed was another issue that came up early during the release. “Speed is something that we are constantly optimising,” he says. “Speed of retrieval of news stories was sluggish according to some, and now it is multiples faster. Creating charts and downloading data into excel, all these things are dramatically faster.
“The product we have out today is dramatically different from the Version 1 roll out of a year ago,” he explains. “The initial product had some gaps, which we’ve been filling.”
Brittan adds: “Our goal is still to transition existing customers to Eikon and to best serve our customers. We’ve got new customers and we’ve got a bunch of customers who have successfully migrated over. We’re not forcing customers to change. We realise it’s an organic thing. We will naturally see the migration in time if the product is the best product. It is relatively new just one year out, so we will move customers at the pace that they want to move.”
What’s next? “We'll be rolling out new capabilities on close to a monthly basis. And in six months we’ll have a bunch of new capabilities. I don't want to talk about them. I just plan to deliver them.”
● SOURCE Wall Street & Technology
Another major shake-up as Thomson Reuters disbands dual structure
Wednesday 28 September 2011
In the second major management shake-up in two months, Thomson Reuters disbanded its two-division structure on Wednesday and promoted a senior executive to the new role of chief operating officer. Tom Glocer remains chief executive. Robert Daleo, chief financial officer, will leave next year.
The company said James Smith, chief executive officer of the professional division, would become chief operating officer immediately. At the same time, the professional and markets divisions are disbanded and will “transition to a set of focused business units” reporting to head office.
Both Daleo and Smith were Thomson Corporation executives when the Toronto-based company bought Reuters in 2008.
“The changes we are announcing today will streamline our organization and enable us to work better across business units to achieve growth and capture operating efficiencies from scale,” said Glocer. “The professional markets in which we operate are marked by increasing collaboration among specialists and Thomson Reuters must operate with the speed and agility needed to serve these demanding professionals.”
Daleo, chief financial officer since 1998, will retire in July 2012 when he turns 63. Stephane Bello, chief financial officer of the professional division, will succeed him as chief financial officer of Thomson Reuters, effective 1 January 2012. Daleo will then serve as vice-chairman of the group until his retirement.
David Thomson, chairman of Thomson Reuters, said: “Bob Daleo has guided the financial operations of the company for more than a decade through three chief executives. Retirement has been anticipated for some time and we shall miss the presence of a trusted and valued colleague. Bob’s contributions to the businesses have been immense. Our evolution into a global electronic information company owes a great debt to him. Bob’s advice and leadership will be sorely missed, but those qualities remain in place over the months ahead to all our benefit.”
“Stephane Bello is the perfect choice to succeed Bob because of his strategic and analytical strengths, proven leadership abilities and deep knowledge of the company and our markets,” said Glocer. “He will work closely with Bob, Jim and me over the next several months to ensure a smooth transition and uphold the high standards of integrity and financial reporting set by Bob Daleo.”
Following the sudden departure in July of Devin Wenig, head of markets, Thomson Reuters promoted Smith, chief executive of the professional division that caters to lawyers, accountants and scientists, to the new role of chief operating officer.
The Financial Times reported that the latest moves take some burden from Glocer, who took hands-on control of markets after Wenig’s exit, which was seen as a sign of the group’s controlling shareholder, Canada’s Thomson family, exerting tighter control.
Glocer told the FT that the split into markets and professional divisions had made sense when Thomson Corporation bought Reuters and needed to concentrate on merging its financial data businesses without distracting its professional units.
“Certainly for the first two years it worked very well like that. This year, I concluded markets wasn’t coming out of the integration the way it needed to and I had to take the first step in July,” he said. “In the perfect world, markets would have been growing faster this year and I would have moved in an orderly way to this structure” in 2012, he said.
The FT said Smith’s promotion could elevate his standing as a possible internal successor to Glocer, who said: “He’s always been in the frame as far as I’m concerned, but I’m not planning to go anywhere.”
In a message to staff, Glocer said his strategic goals were simple: to work better across business units to meet the increasingly complex demands of customers and capture growth opportunities; to leverage Thomson Reuters’ scale and achieve efficiencies by building innovative technology platforms that can be shared across the company; and to square off against competitors as a whole company which is greater than the sum of its parts.
He said the priorities he set in July for the markets division of restarting the sales engine and resetting Eikon in the context of the company’s broader product strategy had not changed, nor had the goal of creating a strong performance culture.
“These last two months acting as both CEO of Thomson Reuters and CEO of the Markets division have convinced me of two important things. First, no matter what labels we apply to our units, we have great people who are eager to work together to better serve our customers and grow our company. Second, this must be a team effort but with clearly defined roles and accountability for performance. I am looking forward to working closely with Jim, Bob, Stephane and our other leaders to achieve success and excellence at Thomson Reuters.”
● SOURCE Reuters | Financial Times
The company said James Smith, chief executive officer of the professional division, would become chief operating officer immediately. At the same time, the professional and markets divisions are disbanded and will “transition to a set of focused business units” reporting to head office.
Both Daleo and Smith were Thomson Corporation executives when the Toronto-based company bought Reuters in 2008.
“The changes we are announcing today will streamline our organization and enable us to work better across business units to achieve growth and capture operating efficiencies from scale,” said Glocer. “The professional markets in which we operate are marked by increasing collaboration among specialists and Thomson Reuters must operate with the speed and agility needed to serve these demanding professionals.”
Daleo, chief financial officer since 1998, will retire in July 2012 when he turns 63. Stephane Bello, chief financial officer of the professional division, will succeed him as chief financial officer of Thomson Reuters, effective 1 January 2012. Daleo will then serve as vice-chairman of the group until his retirement.
David Thomson, chairman of Thomson Reuters, said: “Bob Daleo has guided the financial operations of the company for more than a decade through three chief executives. Retirement has been anticipated for some time and we shall miss the presence of a trusted and valued colleague. Bob’s contributions to the businesses have been immense. Our evolution into a global electronic information company owes a great debt to him. Bob’s advice and leadership will be sorely missed, but those qualities remain in place over the months ahead to all our benefit.”
“Stephane Bello is the perfect choice to succeed Bob because of his strategic and analytical strengths, proven leadership abilities and deep knowledge of the company and our markets,” said Glocer. “He will work closely with Bob, Jim and me over the next several months to ensure a smooth transition and uphold the high standards of integrity and financial reporting set by Bob Daleo.”
Following the sudden departure in July of Devin Wenig, head of markets, Thomson Reuters promoted Smith, chief executive of the professional division that caters to lawyers, accountants and scientists, to the new role of chief operating officer.
The Financial Times reported that the latest moves take some burden from Glocer, who took hands-on control of markets after Wenig’s exit, which was seen as a sign of the group’s controlling shareholder, Canada’s Thomson family, exerting tighter control.
Glocer told the FT that the split into markets and professional divisions had made sense when Thomson Corporation bought Reuters and needed to concentrate on merging its financial data businesses without distracting its professional units.
“Certainly for the first two years it worked very well like that. This year, I concluded markets wasn’t coming out of the integration the way it needed to and I had to take the first step in July,” he said. “In the perfect world, markets would have been growing faster this year and I would have moved in an orderly way to this structure” in 2012, he said.
The FT said Smith’s promotion could elevate his standing as a possible internal successor to Glocer, who said: “He’s always been in the frame as far as I’m concerned, but I’m not planning to go anywhere.”
In a message to staff, Glocer said his strategic goals were simple: to work better across business units to meet the increasingly complex demands of customers and capture growth opportunities; to leverage Thomson Reuters’ scale and achieve efficiencies by building innovative technology platforms that can be shared across the company; and to square off against competitors as a whole company which is greater than the sum of its parts.
He said the priorities he set in July for the markets division of restarting the sales engine and resetting Eikon in the context of the company’s broader product strategy had not changed, nor had the goal of creating a strong performance culture.
“These last two months acting as both CEO of Thomson Reuters and CEO of the Markets division have convinced me of two important things. First, no matter what labels we apply to our units, we have great people who are eager to work together to better serve our customers and grow our company. Second, this must be a team effort but with clearly defined roles and accountability for performance. I am looking forward to working closely with Jim, Bob, Stephane and our other leaders to achieve success and excellence at Thomson Reuters.”
● SOURCE Reuters | Financial Times
Ousted markets chief Devin Wenig joins eBay
Tuesday 06 September 2011
Wenig, 44, a close associate of chief executive Tom Glocer, headed Thomson Reuters’ markets division, which includes Reuters news agency. He also led the integration of Reuters following its 2008 takeover by Thomson.
Announcing Wenig’s hire, eBay trumpeted his business and strategic acumen. He will report to president and CEO John Donahoe, who said “Devin’s deep global operating and leadership experience, combined with his record of delivering innovation and of understanding global technology platforms and communities, makes him uniquely qualified to lead our eBay Marketplaces business”.
Postscript: Website eCommerceBytes said eBay wooed Wenig with a $13.5 million package, comprising annual salary of $750,000 with bonuses; $2.4 million in stock options; $1.8 million in restricted stock units; a target award of $1.8 million performance based restricted stock units; another award of restricted stock units valued at $6 million and participation in eBay’s incentive plan with a target bonus of 100 per cent of base salary.
Wenig, moving from the US east coast to the west, tweeted: “For sale on eBay. 3 dozen really nice ties!”
● SOURCE PaidContent | eCommerceBytes
Thomson Reuters to expand new data system
Monday 15 August 2011
Thomson Reuters is to add foreign exchange data and trading services to Elektron, its flagship high-speed market data system launched last year.
The group hopes the addition can provide a bright spot in its markets division, which accounts for the majority of group revenues but has been performing below expectations, the Financial Times reported. Tom Glocer, chief executive, took over direct management of markets last month in a shake-up that involved the departure of the division’s chief executive, Devin Wenig, and other senior managers.
“Banks need to find ways to cut costs but can’t ignore the technology infrastructure,” Jon Robson, president, enterprise solutions, told the FT. He added that Elektron would look to do more cross-asset class trading. “It’s primarily equities services at the moment, but it will do over-the-counter trading too,” he said.
● SOURCE Financial Times
The group hopes the addition can provide a bright spot in its markets division, which accounts for the majority of group revenues but has been performing below expectations, the Financial Times reported. Tom Glocer, chief executive, took over direct management of markets last month in a shake-up that involved the departure of the division’s chief executive, Devin Wenig, and other senior managers.
“Banks need to find ways to cut costs but can’t ignore the technology infrastructure,” Jon Robson, president, enterprise solutions, told the FT. He added that Elektron would look to do more cross-asset class trading. “It’s primarily equities services at the moment, but it will do over-the-counter trading too,” he said.
● SOURCE Financial Times
Markets drag on 'healthy' Thomson Reuters results
Thursday 28 July 2011
Thomson Reuters reported sluggish growth in its markets division as the company struggles to accelerate adoption of a new flagship desktop for financial professionals.
Second-quarter results released on Thursday followed a management shakeout that resulted in the sudden departure of the ailing division’s chief Devin Wenig and five other high-level executives last week.
Chief executive Tom Glocer assumed direct responsibility for a turnaround in the division, which competes with Bloomberg, Dow Jones and FactSet Research. Division revenue excluding the impact of currency changes rose one per cent from a year earlier, slowing from the first quarter's gain of two per cent.
Overall revenue and earnings per share were within ranges the company announced last week when it became clear that improving the performance of the markets division was a priority for the board and controlling shareholder, Canada's Thomson family.
Glocer called the results “healthy” but noted this was due to strong growth in the professional division serving legal, accounting and other professionals. That unit’s revenue rose eight per cent excluding the impact of exchange rate changes.
“Nonetheless, revenue growth in our markets division is below our expectations, and I have decided to accelerate the transformation in markets,” Glocer said in a statement. “I am confident that these changes will result in improved performance.”
Total revenue excluding divestitures was $3.2 billion, up four per cent before currency adjustments and slightly ahead of the average analyst forecast. Adjusted earnings per share rose to 51 cents from 41 cents.
Many financial clients are still recovering from the global economic crisis, with job cuts and pullbacks in spending. This is hindering sales of Eikon, a new desktop platform which is aimed at pulling together dozens of disparate legacy products.
The company said it had sold more than 28,000 Eikon desktops since the launch last September. About 3,500 are to new users, meaning that only about 24,500 of the company's roughly 500,000 financial markets users have migrated to the new product.
Reuters’ own coverage of the results said the organisational changes have thrown into question how quickly Thomson Reuters can fast-track growth in markets, which accounted for 59 per cent of the company's revenue in the second quarter.
Glocer is preparing a plan to boost the division’s revenue growth rate and plans to present it to the board in the next two months, Reuters said. “He will have about a year to make it work, according to several people familiar with the board’s thinking.”
The markets shakeup dominated Glocer’s earnings call with analysts who wanted to know how and when things will turn around. He pleaded for some patience in fixing the division and discussed a 30-day plan, which involves reorganising the roles of its sales staff, and a 90-day plan, which entails repositioning the product line. On top of that, there is a year-plus plan that calls for developing a broader strategy around Eikon and Elektron, an ultra-high speed data distribution network.
“Any time you do this level of transformation, people need time to get their sea legs,” Glocer said. “So, in the short term, we expect some disruption. At the same time, we expect a lot of excitement on people moving forward with the new strategy in place.”
Asked if his direct management of markets is an interim measure or a permanent one, he said, “Permanent is a long time. I’m the ninth chief executive of Reuters in 160 years.”
Thomson Reuters shares, which have tumbled in recent days, rose by 3.5 per cent after today’s results.
● SOURCE Reuters | PaidContent
Second-quarter results released on Thursday followed a management shakeout that resulted in the sudden departure of the ailing division’s chief Devin Wenig and five other high-level executives last week.
Chief executive Tom Glocer assumed direct responsibility for a turnaround in the division, which competes with Bloomberg, Dow Jones and FactSet Research. Division revenue excluding the impact of currency changes rose one per cent from a year earlier, slowing from the first quarter's gain of two per cent.
Overall revenue and earnings per share were within ranges the company announced last week when it became clear that improving the performance of the markets division was a priority for the board and controlling shareholder, Canada's Thomson family.
Glocer called the results “healthy” but noted this was due to strong growth in the professional division serving legal, accounting and other professionals. That unit’s revenue rose eight per cent excluding the impact of exchange rate changes.
“Nonetheless, revenue growth in our markets division is below our expectations, and I have decided to accelerate the transformation in markets,” Glocer said in a statement. “I am confident that these changes will result in improved performance.”
Total revenue excluding divestitures was $3.2 billion, up four per cent before currency adjustments and slightly ahead of the average analyst forecast. Adjusted earnings per share rose to 51 cents from 41 cents.
Many financial clients are still recovering from the global economic crisis, with job cuts and pullbacks in spending. This is hindering sales of Eikon, a new desktop platform which is aimed at pulling together dozens of disparate legacy products.
The company said it had sold more than 28,000 Eikon desktops since the launch last September. About 3,500 are to new users, meaning that only about 24,500 of the company's roughly 500,000 financial markets users have migrated to the new product.
Reuters’ own coverage of the results said the organisational changes have thrown into question how quickly Thomson Reuters can fast-track growth in markets, which accounted for 59 per cent of the company's revenue in the second quarter.
Glocer is preparing a plan to boost the division’s revenue growth rate and plans to present it to the board in the next two months, Reuters said. “He will have about a year to make it work, according to several people familiar with the board’s thinking.”
The markets shakeup dominated Glocer’s earnings call with analysts who wanted to know how and when things will turn around. He pleaded for some patience in fixing the division and discussed a 30-day plan, which involves reorganising the roles of its sales staff, and a 90-day plan, which entails repositioning the product line. On top of that, there is a year-plus plan that calls for developing a broader strategy around Eikon and Elektron, an ultra-high speed data distribution network.
“Any time you do this level of transformation, people need time to get their sea legs,” Glocer said. “So, in the short term, we expect some disruption. At the same time, we expect a lot of excitement on people moving forward with the new strategy in place.”
Asked if his direct management of markets is an interim measure or a permanent one, he said, “Permanent is a long time. I’m the ninth chief executive of Reuters in 160 years.”
Thomson Reuters shares, which have tumbled in recent days, rose by 3.5 per cent after today’s results.
● SOURCE Reuters | PaidContent
Thomson family behind forced TR restructure - WSJ
Tuesday 26 July 2011
The Thomson family, impatient with Thomson Reuters’ performance, pressed for a senior management shake-up that saw the sudden departure of six top executives last week, putting pressure on CEO Tom Glocer to pull off a turnaround, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
With Glocer now directly overseeing the markets division, which contributes almost 60 per cent of group revenue, the newspaper said the chief executive is in the line of fire if results do not improve. Markets includes Reuters news agency.
The Journal quoted people familiar with the company saying it is not unusual for officials of Woodbridge, the Thomson family’s investment company, to have a say in setting strategy at Thomson Reuters, where they hold a 55 per cent controlling interest.
But the family’s move to flex its muscle spotlights the uncertain payoff from the $17 billion deal that united Thomson Corp and Reuters Group, it said. Since the day after the merger closed in April 2008, the combined company’s US-listed shares have risen just 0.7 per cent.
“Thomson Reuters is scheduled to release second-quarter financial results on Thursday, which will be a crucial day for Mr Glocer,” the Journal said. Investors have said publicly that they are looking for an explanation of Devin Wenig’s departure as chief executive of the markets division and more details about the division’s results. Wenig was a close associate of Glocer, who brought him into Reuters 17 years ago. The Journal said many investors and company executives had considered him to be a possible successor. Both men were former US mergers and acquisitions lawyers.
The Journal said: “People familiar with the company said Woodbridge has methodically set financial goals for the Thomson family’s businesses, and then expects executives to meet them, or face losing their jobs.”
Quoting informed sources, the Journal said that after discussions between Thomson Reuters management in New York and Woodbridge officials in Toronto, Wenig declined to go along with a broad overhaul.
“It was left to Mr Glocer to push through a more drastic proposal that consolidated the division, and wiped away layers of what the company called duplicative executive positions.”
The Journal said that, partly due to the weak economic recovery, Thomson Reuters and Glocer have been grappling with slow sales of products for investment banks, fund managers and other finance professionals.
“But the investment industry also has been slow to embrace Eikon, a revamped financial-data product that Thomson Reuters spent heavily on to develop.”
Eikon was launched last September as a next-generation desktop product for financial professionals incorporating social media features like Twitter. It brings together dozens of Reuters and Thomson legacy products. The company said at the launch that Eikon was intended to win customers from Bloomberg and other competitors. Clients were expected to take it up quickly, but that has not happened. The company has migrated only about 24,500 of the roughly 500,000 users of its legacy products to Eikon and it has brought in only 3,500 new users.
Largely because of spending to develop the new product as well as other new offerings, Thomson Reuters posted a seven per cent decline in underlying operating profit last year. The payoff was supposed to come this year, company executives told the Journal.
● SOURCE The Wall Street Journal
With Glocer now directly overseeing the markets division, which contributes almost 60 per cent of group revenue, the newspaper said the chief executive is in the line of fire if results do not improve. Markets includes Reuters news agency.
The Journal quoted people familiar with the company saying it is not unusual for officials of Woodbridge, the Thomson family’s investment company, to have a say in setting strategy at Thomson Reuters, where they hold a 55 per cent controlling interest.
But the family’s move to flex its muscle spotlights the uncertain payoff from the $17 billion deal that united Thomson Corp and Reuters Group, it said. Since the day after the merger closed in April 2008, the combined company’s US-listed shares have risen just 0.7 per cent.
“Thomson Reuters is scheduled to release second-quarter financial results on Thursday, which will be a crucial day for Mr Glocer,” the Journal said. Investors have said publicly that they are looking for an explanation of Devin Wenig’s departure as chief executive of the markets division and more details about the division’s results. Wenig was a close associate of Glocer, who brought him into Reuters 17 years ago. The Journal said many investors and company executives had considered him to be a possible successor. Both men were former US mergers and acquisitions lawyers.
The Journal said: “People familiar with the company said Woodbridge has methodically set financial goals for the Thomson family’s businesses, and then expects executives to meet them, or face losing their jobs.”
Quoting informed sources, the Journal said that after discussions between Thomson Reuters management in New York and Woodbridge officials in Toronto, Wenig declined to go along with a broad overhaul.
“It was left to Mr Glocer to push through a more drastic proposal that consolidated the division, and wiped away layers of what the company called duplicative executive positions.”
The Journal said that, partly due to the weak economic recovery, Thomson Reuters and Glocer have been grappling with slow sales of products for investment banks, fund managers and other finance professionals.
“But the investment industry also has been slow to embrace Eikon, a revamped financial-data product that Thomson Reuters spent heavily on to develop.”
Eikon was launched last September as a next-generation desktop product for financial professionals incorporating social media features like Twitter. It brings together dozens of Reuters and Thomson legacy products. The company said at the launch that Eikon was intended to win customers from Bloomberg and other competitors. Clients were expected to take it up quickly, but that has not happened. The company has migrated only about 24,500 of the roughly 500,000 users of its legacy products to Eikon and it has brought in only 3,500 new users.
Largely because of spending to develop the new product as well as other new offerings, Thomson Reuters posted a seven per cent decline in underlying operating profit last year. The payoff was supposed to come this year, company executives told the Journal.
● SOURCE The Wall Street Journal
Major Thomson Reuters shake-up claims more scalps
Friday 22 July 2011
A major reorganisation at Thomson Reuters saw the sudden departure of five more senior executives on Friday.
Chris Ahearn, president of media, is leaving the company, along with four others in the markets division which includes Reuters news agency.
Devin Wenig, chief executive of the markets, left yesterday in a re-organisation that the company said aimed to accelerate growth in its financial data business. Second quarter growth in markets has been “somewhat slower than anticipated”, the company said on Thursday. The shares were down more than three per cent in New York on Friday.
Susan Taylor Martin, president of global investment focus accounts, replaces Ahearn as head of media. Tom Glocer, chief executive of the entire group, takes on oversight of markets, assuming Wenig’s role as well as running the whole business. He said: “These changes are intended to accelerate growth as we flatten our organisation to operate as an integrated company and unleash cross-company capabilities and operating synergies.”
Both Ahearn, a former investment banker, and Wenig were executives of Reuters when the company was taken over by Thomson in 2008.
The Financial Times said Wenig’s exit was seen as a sign that Woodbridge, the Thomson family’s holding company, was seeking faster change after 12 months in which its shares have fallen by 9.9 per cent. The Thomsons, Canada’s richest family, own 55 per cent of the business. The FT said the Thomson Reuters board has been looking for new growth strategies as it came to the end of a three-year integration period following the takeover in which cost savings had driven results.
Sources in New York said the Thomsons had decided to give the integration three years to bed down and then act if they thought performance was falling short of expectations.
Glocer said he will manage the financial services business of markets through two closely aligned operating units: Financial Professionals & Marketplaces and Enterprise Solutions. The Financial Professionals & Marketplaces unit will come together over the coming months through the combination of the present Sales & Trading (S&T) and Investment & Advisory (I&A) units. This unit will be led by Shanker Ramamurthy, who joined in May from IBM where he was a general manager and currently runs S&T.
“To give Shanker time to ramp up, I&A will report on an interim basis to Bob Daleo, CFO of Thomson Reuters, who will transition the business to Shanker in a careful and open process,” Glocer said. “Editor-in-Chief Stephen Adler will also report directly to me, reflecting the cross-company role of Editorial.”
Glocer will chair a new markets executive committee.
“This transformation is about driving growth, unleashing cross-company capabilities and making it easier to get things done,” he said. “Importantly, it’s also about accountability and transparency. As we work to create a performance-driven culture, let’s make it a culture where results speak the loudest and collaboration is the norm.”
The other senior executives leaving are investment and advisory president Eric Frank, markets global sales and customer service managing director Joerg Floeck, markets chief marketing officer Lee Ann Daly and markets global head of human resources John Reid-Dodick.
Glocer said he was not planning any further changes of this scale at corporate level or in the professional division, where a similar streamlining effort was carried out earlier this year.
● SOURCE Reuters
Chris Ahearn, president of media, is leaving the company, along with four others in the markets division which includes Reuters news agency.
Devin Wenig, chief executive of the markets, left yesterday in a re-organisation that the company said aimed to accelerate growth in its financial data business. Second quarter growth in markets has been “somewhat slower than anticipated”, the company said on Thursday. The shares were down more than three per cent in New York on Friday.
Susan Taylor Martin, president of global investment focus accounts, replaces Ahearn as head of media. Tom Glocer, chief executive of the entire group, takes on oversight of markets, assuming Wenig’s role as well as running the whole business. He said: “These changes are intended to accelerate growth as we flatten our organisation to operate as an integrated company and unleash cross-company capabilities and operating synergies.”
Both Ahearn, a former investment banker, and Wenig were executives of Reuters when the company was taken over by Thomson in 2008.
The Financial Times said Wenig’s exit was seen as a sign that Woodbridge, the Thomson family’s holding company, was seeking faster change after 12 months in which its shares have fallen by 9.9 per cent. The Thomsons, Canada’s richest family, own 55 per cent of the business. The FT said the Thomson Reuters board has been looking for new growth strategies as it came to the end of a three-year integration period following the takeover in which cost savings had driven results.
Sources in New York said the Thomsons had decided to give the integration three years to bed down and then act if they thought performance was falling short of expectations.
Glocer said he will manage the financial services business of markets through two closely aligned operating units: Financial Professionals & Marketplaces and Enterprise Solutions. The Financial Professionals & Marketplaces unit will come together over the coming months through the combination of the present Sales & Trading (S&T) and Investment & Advisory (I&A) units. This unit will be led by Shanker Ramamurthy, who joined in May from IBM where he was a general manager and currently runs S&T.
“To give Shanker time to ramp up, I&A will report on an interim basis to Bob Daleo, CFO of Thomson Reuters, who will transition the business to Shanker in a careful and open process,” Glocer said. “Editor-in-Chief Stephen Adler will also report directly to me, reflecting the cross-company role of Editorial.”
Glocer will chair a new markets executive committee.
“This transformation is about driving growth, unleashing cross-company capabilities and making it easier to get things done,” he said. “Importantly, it’s also about accountability and transparency. As we work to create a performance-driven culture, let’s make it a culture where results speak the loudest and collaboration is the norm.”
The other senior executives leaving are investment and advisory president Eric Frank, markets global sales and customer service managing director Joerg Floeck, markets chief marketing officer Lee Ann Daly and markets global head of human resources John Reid-Dodick.
Glocer said he was not planning any further changes of this scale at corporate level or in the professional division, where a similar streamlining effort was carried out earlier this year.
● SOURCE Reuters
Thomson Reuters streamlines markets division, Devin Wenig bows out
Thursday 21 July 2011
Chief executive Tom Glocer will assume responsibility for the division.
The company reaffirmed its 2011 outlook and said it expects to report second-quarter ongoing revenues of between $3.1 billion and $3.2 billion, up four per cent. Wall Street is looking for $3.15 billion in the Q2 results due to be announced on 28 July.
The markets division, which serves the financial services industry, will be simplified to three business units from four to help accelerate growth, the company said. The sales and trading, and investment and advisory units will be combined.
The company gave no reason for Wenig’s departure beyond saying it was “coincident with these organizational changes”. He joined Reuters in 1993. Before becoming chief executive of markets he was chief operating officer of Reuters prior to the 2008 takeover by Thomson.
Glocer said the changes were aimed at accelerating growth “as we flatten our organization to operate as an integrated company and unleash cross-company capabilities and operating synergies”.
The Financial Times said Wenig’s unexpected exit was seen by industry members as a sign that Woodbridge, the Thomson family’s holding company that manages its 55 per cent ownership of Thomson Reuters, was seeking faster change after 12 months in which the group’s shares have fallen by 9.9 per cent.
● SOURCE Reuters | Press Release | Financial Times
Reuters launches Insider - 'YouTube for traders'
Tuesday 11 May 2010
The service, two years in the making, is aimed at half a million financial subscribers who will pay up to $2,000 a month to receive a stream of 3,000 online news clips a week. It will be available on desktops, BlackBerries, iPhones and iPads, live or on-demand.
Thomson Reuters hopes Insider will shape the future of news. It is part of a $1 billion technology investment at the group, which wants to embed itself more firmly into customers’ daily work and differentiate itself further from Bloomberg and other competitors.
About 15 per cent of the content will come from Reuters’ own studios in Hong Kong, London and New York and desktop nodes while the rest will come from media outlets like CNBC, Sky and Forbes, along with content from analysts.
“The trend that we are seeing in professional information is not all that different than consumer media,” said Devin Wenig, chief executive for the markets division – essentially the old Reuters business plus Thomson Financial. “People are increasingly visual, and they expect to access information in that way. They want to be able to look at a chief executive and see the expression on the analyst’s face.”
The rise of the Internet means that traders today are more familiar with clicking their way through YouTube than memorising codes for using Reuters’ trading screens and information feeds. “You see very different behaviour from a 25-year-old just out of the London School of Economics to a 55-year-old who has been trading for the last 25 years,” said Wenig. “People who grew up with Google have totally different expectations of how to interact with information and media. We can’t ignore that.”
“What if this becomes the way people consume news?” Mike Stepanovich, managing editor of Insider, said. “What if all news providers decide to come together to share content and syndicate information?”
The idea is to harness Insider’s technology, which allows videos to be searched in real time, to create what he calls a marketplace for news. News organisations that signed up could submit video, pictures and text to the Reuters platform. They would not pay for the exposure, and Reuters would not pay them for their material.
Stepanovich agreed with The Times that “once someone aggregates lots of sources ... the value of having a global news organisation [such as Reuters] kind of goes away”. But he added: “If someone’s going to disrupt your business model, it had best be you. This is the future of the agency business.”
Financial customers are the priority for Insider but Stepanovich said a consumer-orientated product was being considered under which anyone could access searchable video content from a variety of publishers.
As part of the initiative, Reuters is sharing a suite of tools for desktop video production, "even if some of the footage that comes back looks like a hostage video," The New York Times said. It sounds wonderful, and probably will be one day, but the density and relevance of information still need work, The New York Times said. Thomson Reuters says it will iron out glitches as they occur. "It’s not exactly ‘Glee.’ It’s not even ‘Mad Money.’ But it beats downloading and reading the PDF of the latest media research report by a mile,” the newspaper said.
"The breadth and depth of Reuters global editorial coverage has allowed us the opportunity to create something truly unique," said David Schlesinger, editor-in-chief. "By leveraging our 2,800 journalists worldwide, Reuters Insider provides our clients with global financial market news and the credibility that accompanies local access and knowledge."
Reuters Insider is a key part of Thomson Reuters’ New Era, New Tools programme designed to address the challenges faced by the financial services community. It follows the recent launch of Elektron, a new high speed data distribution network, and will be fully integrated into Eikon, the company's next-generation information desktop offering due to launch later this year. Eikon aims to create a common platform for all of Thomson Reuters’ 200 financial products. It is likely to look and feel more like a conventional web portal and all the group’s 500,000 customers will be moved on to it, replacing 3000Xtra as the flagship product.
“We are not going to be the greatest technology company in the world and nor should we be,” said Wenig. “But technology is an enabler. We have to put money into it. We can’t just talk about it. I don’t want to turn us into a consumer company but you ignore at your peril what YouTube and Twitter have done to online behaviour.”
Wenig said in a launch message to staff: "As I've said before, we have started down the road of making a number of radical transformations – to our products, our platforms and how we run our business – that will make an enormous difference for our customers. Congratulations to everyone who made today's exciting next step possible."
● SOURCE Thomson Reuters | The Times | The New York Times | Financial Times | Fast Company | Market Watch | Thomson Reuters marketing VIDEO | Thomson Reuters VIDEO
Thomson Reuters turns to web for major product revamp
Wednesday 14 April 2010
A series of launches will bring together products from the former Reuters and Thomson Financial for the first time into two simplified platforms – one aimed at enterprises such as large banks, the other at individual users such as small hedge funds. It amounts to a radical change for both parts of the business.
The web-based platforms will replace traditional terminal commands with Internet-style online search. They are part of a drive to cater to “the 23-year-old at Goldman Sachs who grew up with Google”, said Devin Wenig, markets chief executive, pictured. They also aim to distinguish Thomson Reuters from Bloomberg and its one-size-fits-all terminals.
Thomson Reuters had to “radically slim the company down”, Wenig told the Financial Times. This would not be by cutting jobs – it plans to increase headcount quite a lot this year – but by reorganising its sales and support staff so that “everybody in the company is going to be working on one of these two platforms”.
Since the financial crisis began, big banks had consolidated, mid-sized customers struggled, but a long tail of smaller customers had grown, Wenig said. To cater for smaller clients cost-effectively, online training and customer support would be introduced.
The enterprise platform will launch next week and claims to offer faster delivery of data to clients, many of whom will be able to locate Thomson Reuters servers alongside their own to reduce delays, as Bloomberg does.
Wenig said the group would not change its pricing, but enterprise clients would find the platform cheaper to run.
Next month Thomson Reuters will make Insider, an online video platform it has been testing since last year, available to all its customers. In addition to the company’s own media staff, Insider will allow outsiders such as brokerages to offer videos of their analysts.
In the autumn a desktop platform called Eikon will offer a wider range of data, greater personalisation, and improved risk management, collaboration and emerging markets features.
“The industry is in a hugely different place from where it was in April 2008, and we think a lot of the changes are permanent and structural,” Wenig said. “Big banks are disappearing but we’ve created 1,000 new accounts in ... six months.”
● SOURCE Financial Times
Devin Wenig sees more media sector mergers
Friday 19 February 2010
Wenig, chief executive of the group’s markets division that includes Reuters news agency, predicted the return of media sector merger activity.
“We’re a b-to-b [business-to-business] company but marriage of content and distribution has been critical… Reach and original content production can sit together. I would not be surprised at seeing mergers and acquisitions coming back.”
Wenig said the company is still integrating its own big merger so won’t be making massive acquisitions of its own, but expect smaller deals — like its recent purchase of Breakingviews — instead.
Wenig said the company would add paid services to its reuters.com news site this year. The site gets 30 million unique users a month.
He said Thomson Reuters would soon begin to syndicate third-party content and make it available to its customers. “When we talk to clients they say that’s what we need.” As part of that, the company would also syndicate some local content (although it has no plans to produce local content of its own).
Outside the conference venue in New York, demonstrators protested about prolonged contract negotiations between Thomson Reuters and the Newspaper Guild of New York, representing editorial employees. Asked about labour issues, Wenig said: “We’re not cutting either staff or salaries.” He said the company was thinking about structuring compensation in order to “play to win”.
● SOURCE PaidContent
News chief in Trust Principles pledge to staff after ‘minor uprising’
Friday 15 January 2010
Employees would be proud to hear how one of their executives handled hedge fund billionaire Steven Cohen, the New York Post reported on Friday.
“At least, that's how Devin Wenig, CEO of the markets division, is telling it,” it said. As head of markets, Wenig leads the group’s global financial services and media businesses. If they could see a transcript of his call with the founder of SAC Capital Advisors in December, staffers would be pleased, Wenig told staff during a conference call on Wednesday, the Post said.
“The comments come on the heels of a minor uprising at the news agency, after reporters discovered that editors killed a story looking into Cohen's trades after the hedge funder called Wenig to complain,” it said in a report under the headline “Reuters CEO defense killed Cohen story”.
Reporters Matthew Goldstein and Svea Herbst-Bayliss have been looking into allegations that Cohen engaged in insider trading in the 1980s. After Cohen's complaint, Wenig called editor-in-chief David Schlesinger and the story was subsequently killed.
Wenig assured staff he would never jeopardise the company’s 150-year history or the Trust Principles, under which Reuters acts at all times with integrity, independence and freedom from bias, the Post said.
“Wenig also defended Schlesinger, saying he has 30 years of unblemished record under his belt. The CEO explained that he receives similar complaints at least once a week and always refers them to Schlesinger or the appropriate editor.”
In a conference call a week earlier, staff questioned Schlesinger about the spiked story. US media blogs characterised the call as tense and said the editor-in-chief faced down a string of angry and confused journalists demanding to know precisely why their boss spiked it. The episode was said to have severely demoralised staff.
Schlesinger denounced “false blog stories” accusing Reuters of caving in to a wealthy hedge fund manager and berated staff for “running to a blog and spreading[ing] tittle-tattle” instead of raising concerns internally. “Keep it within editorial, and don’t go running to a blog,” he was quoted as saying.
A Schlesinger e-mail to staff that found its way to blogs referred to journalists’ concern over the reports and said: “…never doubt the commitment of this company and of me to our Trust principles and journalistic ethics”.
● SOURCE New York Post
● Reuters Trust Principles
Brouhaha in the blogosphere over spiked story
Friday 08 January 2010
The manager, Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors, called Devin Wenig, CEO of the markets division that includes Reuters news agency, last month to complain about a story by reporters Matthew Goldstein and Svea Herbst-Bayliss who had been looking into allegations that Cohen engaged in insider trading in the 1980s.
The brouhaha has quickly been taken up in the blogosphere.
“Wenig passed Cohen's concerns onto Schlesinger, who put the kibosh on the story, raising question about what, precisely, the point of Reuters is if rich people can quash inconvenient stories with a phone call,” Manhattan media blog Gawker said.
Schlesinger said in a conference call with staff on Wednesday it was not a bad story and could have run. The call was tense, according to Gawker, which obtained a recording of it. Schlesinger faced down a string of angry and confused Reuters journalists demanding to know precisely why their boss spiked the story, it said.
During the conference call Schlesinger also fielded questions about contract negotiations with the Newspaper Guild of New York and the controversial redesign of the reuters.com website.
“To judge by the conference call, the Cohen episode has severely demoralized the wire service's staff, which was already preoccupied by bitter contract negotiations between its union members and management,” said another blog, Talking Biz News.
“Schlesinger acknowledged that Wenig had called him about the Cohen story, and that after reading it at Wenig's request, he told his deputy Jack Reerink that he had problems with it. But he denounced the ‘false blog stories’ accusing Reuters of caving to a wealthy hedge fund manager and insisted that his concerns had nothing to so with Cohen's complaint. And he lambasted his staffers for ‘running to a blog and spreading[ing] tittle-tattle’ … instead of raising concerns internally.
“Editors make judgments. You might not always agree with those judgments, and that’s fine,” Schlesinger said in the call. “If you disagree with those judgments, then come to me. Keep it within editorial, and don’t go running to a blog.”
At one point near the end of the call the editor-in-chief interrupted one staff member who said that his editorial judgment was on trial. ”My judgment is not on trial here,” he said, apologizing for losing his temper. “It was a question of judgment, and that judgment is not up for a vote or trial.”
Gawker reported: “When Reuters media reporter Robert MacMillan asked his boss what actually happened, and what was wrong with the story, Schlesinger immediately became testy, and bizarrely seemed to say that there wasn't anything wrong with it: ‘We're not going to do news editing by plebiscite...so I'm not going to go into the details of it. The story could have run. I mean, it was not a bad story. It could have run. But I had questions about it.’ Schlesinger said that the decision to kill it wasn't actually his — he raised his questions with Reerink, who made the ultimate decision: ‘I was actually in Tokyo. I said, look, it's up to you, I'm going to bed. He made a decision not to run it. That's it.’”
Schlesinger declined to explain his decision beyond saying “You obviously have a choice — you can either believe me or not. And if you don't believe me, fine. But I'm telling you that I was hired as an editor to make judgments. And I make those judgments free of pressure.”
Talking Biz News said Reerink, global company news editor, wrote a note to staff on Friday in which he mocked the blogs and said: “In the real world, we live by the trust principles. In the real world, we kick back stories for more reporting, balance or insight. In the real world, we don’t run every story just because we wrote it.
“Are we going to be right all the time? No. But we’ll try very hard. And we’ll learn from our mistakes. (and this was not a mistake, by the way).”
Talking Biz News published what it said was an e-mail sent by Schlesinger. It said: “There’s been blog chatter in the US this week that I spiked a story because Devin told me to after he got a call from the story’s putative subject. I know many of our journalists have been concerned by the reports and even wondered if they were true.
“Don’t believe them.
“We make decisions on stories for editorial and journalistic reasons only.
“Those decisions, by their nature, are judgement calls and you of course are always free to question the judgement or debate the issues. But never doubt the commitment of this company and of me to our Trust principles and journalistic ethics.
“In my three years as Editor-in-Chief (and in the three years before that when I was running editorial operations), neither Tom [Glocer, chief executive] nor Devin has ever asked me to kill a story or to run a story. I would have objected loudly if they had.”
● SOURCE Gawker | Talking Biz News | The Business Insider
Thomson Reuters aims to click with the Internet generation
Sunday 30 August 2009
For the first time, all 200 financial products will be moved to a common platform, replacing 3000Xtra and making the company’s systems simpler to use.
The new product is likely to be more like a conventional web portal in look and feel when it comes to market early next spring. All 500,000 customers will be moved on to it.
“It is the first time we are going to properly launch a product,” Wenig told veteran Reuters watcher James Ashton in The Sunday Times. “We never really launch products. They just emerge. This will have proper marketing and advertising.”
Wenig said: “You see very different behaviour from a 25-year-old just out of the London School of Economics to a 55-year-old who has been trading for the last 25 years.
“People who grew up with Google have totally different expectations of how to interact with information and media. We can’t ignore that.”
The new product is Project Utah, the final part of a $1 billion technology upgrade.
“We are not going to be the greatest technology company in the world and nor should we be,” said Wenig. “But technology is an enabler. We have to put money into it. We can’t just talk about it.”
In the 158 years since Reuters began flying pigeons with news alerts tied to their legs, it has had to move with the times, The Sunday Times said. “But the company, which merged with Thomson last year and has delisted itself from the London stock market, has never really been known for its cutting-edge advances.
“New versions of old systems have underwhelmed or been released late. Innovations such as offering instant messaging between users have often been introduced first by its nimbler rival Bloomberg, which has caused a headache for Reuters ever since it set up as a direct competitor almost three decades ago.
“It recently trailed in Bloomberg’s wake in mobile, but the launch of a news application for the BlackBerry and iPhone was a hit, drawing 90,000 subscribers in its first month. However, long-term followers of the industry see a change of tack.”
“The difference now is that Thomson Reuters is taking a more friendly approach to how it presents information,” said Douglas Taylor, managing partner at Burton-Taylor International Consulting and a former executive at both Thomson Financial and Reuters.
“In some cases they are playing catch-up but I think their expectation is to leapfrog Bloomberg.”
Despite the financial crash, underlying sales at Thomson Reuters’ markets division are still growing, although only by 0.2 per cent in the last quarter, the newspaper said.
Taylor forecasts that the $23 billion market for electronic financial information will shrink by 1-3 per cent this year, with Bloomberg holding a 26 per cent share and Thomson Reuters 34 per cent because it dominates in areas such as fixed income. Where they compete directly, the two companies are judged to be roughly neck and neck.
Thomson Reuters is trying to drive down split-second delays in its data feeds, The Sunday Times said. Some investment banks have asked the company to host their applications in its data centres to increase efficiency.
The biggest change to news provision will be Insider, a video news service for the financiers who already use its news terminals. If they pay, they can call up interviews as if they were trawling YouTube and they will also be able to search quickly through transcripts for the key points. “I don’t want to turn us into a consumer company but you ignore at your peril what YouTube and Twitter have done to online behaviour,” said Wenig.
He invoked Apple and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion as the type of company he wants Thomson Reuters to emulate.
“We didn’t tend to think of ourselves as a product innovation company. I am trying to move the company forward and encourage people to think about new things,” he said.
● SOURCE The Sunday Times
Tom Glocer and Devin Wenig unload shares
Friday 14 August 2009
Glocer, chief executive, and Wenig, CEO of the markets division, both made the sale to rebalance their portfolios. Glocer sold 200,000 shares at £20.11 and now holds about 1.34 million shares. Wenig sold 100,000 shares at £19.78 and now owns about 650,000. Both men joined Reuters in 1993.
"After second quarter results that were significantly better than expected, investors may be concerned that management are calling a near-term peak to the share price," Phillip Huang, UBS analyst, said in a note.
"Thomson Reuters merits a premium based on the results it has delivered, but an end to the cyclical market rally, particularly in financials, could lead to profit taking in Thomson and lead to the relative premium contracting," he said.
The company currently trades on a 16x multiple of its 2010 expected earnings per share, compared with 10x multiples in its peers.
UBS maintains a "sell" rating on Thomson Reuters with a $23.50 target price.
● SOURCE National Post
Thomson Reuters launches new iPhone, iPod Touch and Blackberry applications
Monday 11 May 2009
“It would be a logical conclusion that there would be a paid element in time,” said Alisa Bowen, head of consumer publishing. “The ability to launch premium services is our ultimate goal.”
The company is also looking at a more comprehensive service for the Kindle, Amazon’s electronic reader. “We’re seeing a willingness to discuss [the Kindle business model] from Amazon,” Bowen said.
The new applications offer video and market data as well as headlines. They are tailored for the three devices’ different audiences. The iPhone/iPod Touch service plays up video coverage and photography for a consumer-focused user base, while its Blackberry service focuses on customised business reporting and data.
Both apps are being released free to BlackBerry and iPhone/iPod Touch users, but the company wants to turn them into products that generate both subscription and advertising revenue.
Chris Ahearn, president of media, told the website paidContent that the company was still moving forward on Markets division CEO Devin Wenig's promise to invest $1 billion in building up its multimedia capabilities. That push revolves around ramping up its video capabilities for both TV and the web.
"The iPhone app is targeted to all business professionals, not just financial consumers, or users in legal or health and science. It's for Thomson Reuters professional audience writ large," he said. Ahearn said the company will roll out a number of other products this year. "You'll see a variety of multimedia offerings across online, mobile as well as the terminals over the course of this year. We're investing $1 billion in the middle of what is arguably one of the most difficult economic periods we've seen in decades."
"We learned a lot of lessons over the last two decades – the most important of which is to focus on delivering great user experiences," said Ahearn. "This app for iPhone and iPod Touch is an excellent way to give our business professional audience convenient access to Reuters content anytime, anyplace."
Key features and benefits of the mobile application include:
● News stories from a variety of categories including world, sports, politics, environment, health, and business
● Full story articles and photos optimised for easy reading on a mobile device
● Ability to select region – US, Canada, UK, or India – for localised content
● Up-to-the-minute market data including indices, commodities and currencies by region
● Designed to support offline use when users don’t have service or an Internet connection
● Personalised stocks tab so users can track only the stocks that they want
● Keywords and My Feeds tab that allows users to customised news feeds that are of special interest.
● SOURCE Financial Times | The Washington Post | Business World
● CLICK to download the iPhone and iPod Touch application from the Apple iTunes website.
● CLICK to download the BlackBerry application from the BlackBerry website.
Pay boom for Thomson Reuters executives
Thursday 02 April 2009
Six senior executives of Thomson Reuters have been given share awards that could be worth $61 million, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
The awards come after a year in which profits and revenues grew ahead of expectations but fears about the health of the financial and professional customers on which it depends also grew.
Tom Glocer, CEO, was granted restricted stock units valued at a potential $26.1 million over five years. The awards are not subject to performance criteria, the FT said.
“Separate cash and stock bonuses, and $757,000 relocation expenses, mean Glocer’s compensation jumped from £2.61 million for his last year at Reuters to $8.91 million for his first at the helm of the enlarged group,” it said.
A spokesman said the rise reflected larger responsibilities, performance achievements and currency swings. A similar one-time grant to Devin Wenig, chief executive of the markets division, was valued at $15.9 million, on top of a $4.54 million compensation package for the year.
Thomson Reuters said the awards for the two former Reuters executives, which exceeded those to former Thomson directors, were in part a reflection of the fact that they could not join Thomson’s defined pension plan for executives, which is now closed to new participants.
The details come amid heated argument about executive compensation, particularly in the Wall Street and City firms served by Thomson Reuters, and after contentious contract negotiations with some editorial staff, the FT said.
“But the company has little to fear from shareholder opposition to the rewards as it is 55 per cent controlled by the Woodbridge Company, which represents the Thomson family’s holding.”
Geoff Beattie, president of Woodbridge, was also granted restricted stock units with a theoretical value of $3.57 million. Niall FitzGerald, former Reuters chairman, received restricted stock valued at $707,000. The two deputy chairmen were architects of the Thomson Reuters deal.
The rewards followed a year in which the group hit the top end of its forecasts, with eight per cent pro forma revenue growth and a 19 per cent increase in underlying operating profit.
Last month it accelerated estimates of integration savings from the merger, raised the dividend and predicted further organic growth in 2009.
Executive salaries will be frozen this year, after Glocer’s basic salary slipped from the sterling equivalent of $1.67 million to $1.55 million.
A compensation committee report said it had aimed to increase the portion of his compensation tied to performance.
The Daily Mail said: “In an age of shrinking banking bonuses, the staggering payout made American Tom Glocer one of the highest earners in corporate Britain last year.
“The 49-year old lawyer hit the jackpot after merging Reuters, where he was chief executive, with North American media conglomerate Thomson.
“An estimated £15m share option package was triggered when the £9bn deal was finally given the green light last March.
“But the gravy train gathered more speed when Glocer pitched up in the US as head of the enlarged data and publishing giant and was handed share options worth over £18m in Thomson-Reuters.”
His basic pay at Reuters was a relatively modest £900,000. Glocer is aiming to cut overheads by nearly £1 billion – in a move that will see him slash jobs at the combined financial markets divisions.
The Mail said Thomson Reuters’ annual report published on Monday offers a tantalising glimpse into the pay and perks commonplace in US boardrooms.
“But his sweeteners could revive painful memories for longstanding shareholders.
“Glocer came under fire over the £230,000 annual rent Reuters used to pay for his London home.
“Reuters shares have lost less than a tenth of their value over the past year, making them among the best performers in the battered media sector.”
● SOURCE Financial Times | Daily Mail
The awards come after a year in which profits and revenues grew ahead of expectations but fears about the health of the financial and professional customers on which it depends also grew.
Tom Glocer, CEO, was granted restricted stock units valued at a potential $26.1 million over five years. The awards are not subject to performance criteria, the FT said.
“Separate cash and stock bonuses, and $757,000 relocation expenses, mean Glocer’s compensation jumped from £2.61 million for his last year at Reuters to $8.91 million for his first at the helm of the enlarged group,” it said.
A spokesman said the rise reflected larger responsibilities, performance achievements and currency swings. A similar one-time grant to Devin Wenig, chief executive of the markets division, was valued at $15.9 million, on top of a $4.54 million compensation package for the year.
Thomson Reuters said the awards for the two former Reuters executives, which exceeded those to former Thomson directors, were in part a reflection of the fact that they could not join Thomson’s defined pension plan for executives, which is now closed to new participants.
The details come amid heated argument about executive compensation, particularly in the Wall Street and City firms served by Thomson Reuters, and after contentious contract negotiations with some editorial staff, the FT said.
“But the company has little to fear from shareholder opposition to the rewards as it is 55 per cent controlled by the Woodbridge Company, which represents the Thomson family’s holding.”
Geoff Beattie, president of Woodbridge, was also granted restricted stock units with a theoretical value of $3.57 million. Niall FitzGerald, former Reuters chairman, received restricted stock valued at $707,000. The two deputy chairmen were architects of the Thomson Reuters deal.
The rewards followed a year in which the group hit the top end of its forecasts, with eight per cent pro forma revenue growth and a 19 per cent increase in underlying operating profit.
Last month it accelerated estimates of integration savings from the merger, raised the dividend and predicted further organic growth in 2009.
Executive salaries will be frozen this year, after Glocer’s basic salary slipped from the sterling equivalent of $1.67 million to $1.55 million.
A compensation committee report said it had aimed to increase the portion of his compensation tied to performance.
The Daily Mail said: “In an age of shrinking banking bonuses, the staggering payout made American Tom Glocer one of the highest earners in corporate Britain last year.
“The 49-year old lawyer hit the jackpot after merging Reuters, where he was chief executive, with North American media conglomerate Thomson.
“An estimated £15m share option package was triggered when the £9bn deal was finally given the green light last March.
“But the gravy train gathered more speed when Glocer pitched up in the US as head of the enlarged data and publishing giant and was handed share options worth over £18m in Thomson-Reuters.”
His basic pay at Reuters was a relatively modest £900,000. Glocer is aiming to cut overheads by nearly £1 billion – in a move that will see him slash jobs at the combined financial markets divisions.
The Mail said Thomson Reuters’ annual report published on Monday offers a tantalising glimpse into the pay and perks commonplace in US boardrooms.
“But his sweeteners could revive painful memories for longstanding shareholders.
“Glocer came under fire over the £230,000 annual rent Reuters used to pay for his London home.
“Reuters shares have lost less than a tenth of their value over the past year, making them among the best performers in the battered media sector.”
● SOURCE Financial Times | Daily Mail
Thomson Reuters to launch video news service in June
Tuesday 03 March 2009
Thomson Reuters Corp will launch a video news service in June for financial professionals who use its terminals, part of a $1 billion plan to appeal to a new generation of customers.
The service, called Reuters Insider, will provide live and searchable financial markets coverage, analysis and breaking news.
It will not run all day, will not rely on advertising and will be largely unavailable to the public. Clients, however, will be able to access it around the clock. Paying customers will be able to access on-demand news segments in the same way people watch video clips on YouTube. They will be able to select videos on channels grouped by category, such as foreign exchange, equities or political news.
The project is part of a $1 billion programme to update the company's products and infrastructure to make them more appealing to financial professionals accustomed to using the Internet to get information.
Thomson Reuters has been testing the service since last October, and is launching it during a time of uncertainty for media outlets.
Many newspapers, TV stations and news outlets are losing advertising revenue as people get more news online, often for free. Some news and information companies may be forced out of business. Others are trying to figure out how to get people to pay for their news.
Investing during the global economic downturn, which has led to layoffs in the financial industry, is what the company must do to keep performing well, said Devin Wenig, markets division chief executive.
Reuters journalists are contributing to the programming, and Thomson Reuters is recruiting about 120 people to run it from multi-media studios in New York, London and Hong Kong. It hopes clients such as banks and investment companies will also supply video and create their own channels.
The new service is designed to give financial professionals news they can use to make trades and other business decisions, but does not replace news articles, Wenig said.
"To me, this is just Reuters News 2.0," he said. Targeting a narrowly defined, paying audience works better for the company, Wenig said. "This isn't infotainment."
Chris Cramer, former president of CNN International who is now global editor of multimedia for Reuters News, said: “The broadcast model, the cable model, is broken. At the moment there is no competition. This is something unique.”
Michael Stepanovich, managing editor of Reuters Insider, said it would rely heavily on “tags” about each video clip, generated from transcripts using software acquired through the 2007 purchase of a “semantic engine” called Clear Forest.
As well as channels for sales and trading or enterprise customers, he said Reuters Insider could be customised to track individual sectors, asset classes, regions, companies and topics, or an investor’s portfolio. “We want to be able to create a [Bernie] Madoff channel,” Stepanovich said.
Users will also be able to watch “highlights reels” drawn from different videos, find sections of video from the relevant passage in the transcript, or send clips to their BlackBerrys.
David Schlesinger, editor-in-chief, said the initiative was a response to the demands of a younger generation.
Reuters experimented with video a decade ago with Reuters TV but abandoned the initiative because of the high costs required before the web video era.
● SOURCE Financial Times
● CLICK to read Chris Cramer’s blog post on narrowcasting.
The service, called Reuters Insider, will provide live and searchable financial markets coverage, analysis and breaking news.
It will not run all day, will not rely on advertising and will be largely unavailable to the public. Clients, however, will be able to access it around the clock. Paying customers will be able to access on-demand news segments in the same way people watch video clips on YouTube. They will be able to select videos on channels grouped by category, such as foreign exchange, equities or political news.
The project is part of a $1 billion programme to update the company's products and infrastructure to make them more appealing to financial professionals accustomed to using the Internet to get information.
Thomson Reuters has been testing the service since last October, and is launching it during a time of uncertainty for media outlets.
Many newspapers, TV stations and news outlets are losing advertising revenue as people get more news online, often for free. Some news and information companies may be forced out of business. Others are trying to figure out how to get people to pay for their news.
Investing during the global economic downturn, which has led to layoffs in the financial industry, is what the company must do to keep performing well, said Devin Wenig, markets division chief executive.
Reuters journalists are contributing to the programming, and Thomson Reuters is recruiting about 120 people to run it from multi-media studios in New York, London and Hong Kong. It hopes clients such as banks and investment companies will also supply video and create their own channels.
The new service is designed to give financial professionals news they can use to make trades and other business decisions, but does not replace news articles, Wenig said.
"To me, this is just Reuters News 2.0," he said. Targeting a narrowly defined, paying audience works better for the company, Wenig said. "This isn't infotainment."
Chris Cramer, former president of CNN International who is now global editor of multimedia for Reuters News, said: “The broadcast model, the cable model, is broken. At the moment there is no competition. This is something unique.”
Michael Stepanovich, managing editor of Reuters Insider, said it would rely heavily on “tags” about each video clip, generated from transcripts using software acquired through the 2007 purchase of a “semantic engine” called Clear Forest.
As well as channels for sales and trading or enterprise customers, he said Reuters Insider could be customised to track individual sectors, asset classes, regions, companies and topics, or an investor’s portfolio. “We want to be able to create a [Bernie] Madoff channel,” Stepanovich said.
Users will also be able to watch “highlights reels” drawn from different videos, find sections of video from the relevant passage in the transcript, or send clips to their BlackBerrys.
David Schlesinger, editor-in-chief, said the initiative was a response to the demands of a younger generation.
Reuters experimented with video a decade ago with Reuters TV but abandoned the initiative because of the high costs required before the web video era.
● SOURCE Financial Times
● CLICK to read Chris Cramer’s blog post on narrowcasting.
Thomson Reuters starting to feel ‘coherent, focused’
Friday 19 December 2008
At the close of a rollercoaster year of firsts, integration pains and the most challenging market of a lifetime, Thomson Reuters is starting to feel like a coherent, focused business and is on track to become one company in one year, says Devin Wenig, markets division CEO.
There is lots more to do and there are more challenges to come – hold tight for another amazing year, he has told staff.
“We recently held our holiday parties and I have to say that I wasn’t sure how people would react to these parties, given our focus on costs and the uncertainty in the market,” Wenig said in a year-end message. “I think people really had a great time and they understand that our goal was simply to say thanks for an extraordinary effort in an extraordinary year.
“As someone said to me in New York, anybody that has a party in this market environment must be winning!
“And what an amazing year it’s been – no-one could have predicted even a year ago the pace of change that we have seen inside our organization but also what’s happening to the markets and to our customers.
“It’s been a year of highs and lows, of things to celebrate, of getting to know new friends and colleagues, and saying goodbye to colleagues who are no longer with us. And, sadly, it’s also saying goodbye to long-standing institutions like Lehman Brothers who had been a loyal customer and supporter of ours for many, many years.”
It has been a year of firsts, Wenig said – the first year as a new company, the first year of serving a new and diverse customer base and the first year of making a significant step change in service.
“But we had two other important firsts this year. We won our first Pulitzer prize – won by Reuters News for breaking news photography taken by Adrees Latif. And then just recently, we won our first Emmy in recognition of Reuters News and our role in the pursuit of truth and our contribution to society. The Emmy, for lifetime achievement in journalism, was awarded to our own Editor-in-Chief David Schlesinger. I’m incredibly proud of these two achievements, particularly as they come from the US, a part of the world where Reuters News has not always been as well known but is now gaining a really important place in the markets and with our clients.
“Let’s not forget what we were able to achieve together. We’ve pulled the business together; we’ve met our customers’ high expectations of service and benefits; we’ve exceeded our targets for the integration; and we’ve continued to deliver growth in the most challenging market of a lifetime. Most importantly, we’re on a path to become one company in one year. I hear a lot more people these days talk about Thomson Reuters rather than Thomson Financial or Reuters. It’s starting to feel like a coherent, focused business. We have a lot more to do and many challenges to come but I will enter 2009 with the optimism of knowing we have great people, great assets and a focused and high performing team.
“So we’re coming to the end of a rollercoaster year and I want you to know how grateful I am for all of your hard work; for putting up with the pains of integration and for helping me to build the great company that I dream about for all of us.
“Thank you and I hope you all have a wonderful time with family and friends over the holiday period. I know that many of you will be working around the world over the holidays and keeping our content and news flowing – and I thank you for that.
“So here’s to 2009…get some rest and get ready to hold on tight for what undoubtedly will be another amazing year.”
● SOURCE Thomson Reuters
There is lots more to do and there are more challenges to come – hold tight for another amazing year, he has told staff.
“We recently held our holiday parties and I have to say that I wasn’t sure how people would react to these parties, given our focus on costs and the uncertainty in the market,” Wenig said in a year-end message. “I think people really had a great time and they understand that our goal was simply to say thanks for an extraordinary effort in an extraordinary year.
“As someone said to me in New York, anybody that has a party in this market environment must be winning!
“And what an amazing year it’s been – no-one could have predicted even a year ago the pace of change that we have seen inside our organization but also what’s happening to the markets and to our customers.
“It’s been a year of highs and lows, of things to celebrate, of getting to know new friends and colleagues, and saying goodbye to colleagues who are no longer with us. And, sadly, it’s also saying goodbye to long-standing institutions like Lehman Brothers who had been a loyal customer and supporter of ours for many, many years.”
It has been a year of firsts, Wenig said – the first year as a new company, the first year of serving a new and diverse customer base and the first year of making a significant step change in service.
“But we had two other important firsts this year. We won our first Pulitzer prize – won by Reuters News for breaking news photography taken by Adrees Latif. And then just recently, we won our first Emmy in recognition of Reuters News and our role in the pursuit of truth and our contribution to society. The Emmy, for lifetime achievement in journalism, was awarded to our own Editor-in-Chief David Schlesinger. I’m incredibly proud of these two achievements, particularly as they come from the US, a part of the world where Reuters News has not always been as well known but is now gaining a really important place in the markets and with our clients.
“Let’s not forget what we were able to achieve together. We’ve pulled the business together; we’ve met our customers’ high expectations of service and benefits; we’ve exceeded our targets for the integration; and we’ve continued to deliver growth in the most challenging market of a lifetime. Most importantly, we’re on a path to become one company in one year. I hear a lot more people these days talk about Thomson Reuters rather than Thomson Financial or Reuters. It’s starting to feel like a coherent, focused business. We have a lot more to do and many challenges to come but I will enter 2009 with the optimism of knowing we have great people, great assets and a focused and high performing team.
“So we’re coming to the end of a rollercoaster year and I want you to know how grateful I am for all of your hard work; for putting up with the pains of integration and for helping me to build the great company that I dream about for all of us.
“Thank you and I hope you all have a wonderful time with family and friends over the holiday period. I know that many of you will be working around the world over the holidays and keeping our content and news flowing – and I thank you for that.
“So here’s to 2009…get some rest and get ready to hold on tight for what undoubtedly will be another amazing year.”
● SOURCE Thomson Reuters
‘Relentless’ cost-cutting in downturn
Wednesday 22 October 2008
Thomson Reuters will cut costs relentlessly to deal with the global financial crisis but further redundancies are not foreseen, online reports said on Wednesday.
In a memo to staff yesterday, Devin Wenig, markets division CEO, laid out an austerity plan to help get the company through the deep and unprecedented malaise gripping the banking industry, The Daily Mail said.
The website Paid Content quoted him as saying: “Many of our big customers are struggling and there is talk of a global recession. We are in a period of unprecedented change that seems to be unfolding in real time... The changes we are witnessing are global and deep and this is very different to a cyclical downturn.”
Wenig admitted the group’s top 25 large accounts are under pressure and said: “The short-term tactical response to this tough market is that we will be relentless about costs, efficiency and challenging the status quo. I don’t apologise for that; every dollar we can drive out of things like travel, entertainment, research that no-one reads, information requests that are not critical and meetings that don’t need to happen, is another dollar we can invest in the critical sales, product, news or service initiatives that will really drive this firm forward.”
Paid Content said a Thomson Reuters spokesperson refuted reports of a coming wave of redundancies. The Mail said Wenig had vowed to accelerate the group’s efforts to strip out costs and slash headcount, crystallising fears that the financial news and data division, which accounts for 60 per cent of group profits, will suffer as banks across the globe shed staff.
“As staff levels plunge at banks, so, too, will demand for Reuters’ news and data terminals,” the Mail said.
“Wenig said he would step up a programme designed to squeeze over £700m in costs out of the combined group by 2011.
“He also signalled that job cuts were creeping up his agenda.
“Wenig told staff: ‘We will be relentless about costs and efficiencies and restrictions on headcount will be followed to the letter’,” the Mail said.
But Paid Content said there were no new numbers in the memo: “just a reminder that Wenig & Co. are taking no prisoners when it comes to cost saving in uncertain times...”
It was not all bad news, however. Wenig said it was an absolute certainty that global economies will recover and that a growing global class of wealthy people would still need financial information and advice.
“The environment may be deteriorating, but we have had several strong sales months and I believe we are winning share,” he added.
● SOURCE The Daily Mail | Paid Content
In a memo to staff yesterday, Devin Wenig, markets division CEO, laid out an austerity plan to help get the company through the deep and unprecedented malaise gripping the banking industry, The Daily Mail said.
The website Paid Content quoted him as saying: “Many of our big customers are struggling and there is talk of a global recession. We are in a period of unprecedented change that seems to be unfolding in real time... The changes we are witnessing are global and deep and this is very different to a cyclical downturn.”
Wenig admitted the group’s top 25 large accounts are under pressure and said: “The short-term tactical response to this tough market is that we will be relentless about costs, efficiency and challenging the status quo. I don’t apologise for that; every dollar we can drive out of things like travel, entertainment, research that no-one reads, information requests that are not critical and meetings that don’t need to happen, is another dollar we can invest in the critical sales, product, news or service initiatives that will really drive this firm forward.”
Paid Content said a Thomson Reuters spokesperson refuted reports of a coming wave of redundancies. The Mail said Wenig had vowed to accelerate the group’s efforts to strip out costs and slash headcount, crystallising fears that the financial news and data division, which accounts for 60 per cent of group profits, will suffer as banks across the globe shed staff.
“As staff levels plunge at banks, so, too, will demand for Reuters’ news and data terminals,” the Mail said.
“Wenig said he would step up a programme designed to squeeze over £700m in costs out of the combined group by 2011.
“He also signalled that job cuts were creeping up his agenda.
“Wenig told staff: ‘We will be relentless about costs and efficiencies and restrictions on headcount will be followed to the letter’,” the Mail said.
But Paid Content said there were no new numbers in the memo: “just a reminder that Wenig & Co. are taking no prisoners when it comes to cost saving in uncertain times...”
It was not all bad news, however. Wenig said it was an absolute certainty that global economies will recover and that a growing global class of wealthy people would still need financial information and advice.
“The environment may be deteriorating, but we have had several strong sales months and I believe we are winning share,” he added.
● SOURCE The Daily Mail | Paid Content
World crisis will hurt us, Tom Glocer says
Thursday 02 October 2008
Thomson Reuters reaffirmed its full-year outlook on Thursday but Tom Glocer said the world financial crisis will hurt the company as banks lose staff and take out trading and information terminals.
“You’ve got to say this is a negative short to middle term,” the CEO told analysts at a London investor day. But he said the banking consolidation now beginning represents a long-term opportunity.
“There’s a lot of compensating work that needs to be done now to stitch together all these trading operations,” Glocer said.
Thomson Reuters’ markets division is exposed to financial services and contributes 59 per cent of group sales. Glocer said the Thomson Financial legal and health professional business would help the company to weather the storm.
In slides for the presentation the company said it expected revenue growth of 6 to 8 per cent, almost all organic, and an underlying profit margin of 19 to 21 per cent for 2008.
It also reiterated targets to generate free cash flow of 11 to 12 per cent of sales for capital expenditure of 8 to 9 per cent of revenue.
The company said it had completed its refinancing needs for Thomson’s acquisition of Reuters in April through long-term debt offerings in June. It had a $2.5 billion credit facility on which it had not drawn.
Devin Wenig, markets division CEO, said the company’s foreign exchange business had its best month ever in September. But he could not predict how long it would take until conditions for the division as a whole would improve.
“We certainly are not viewing this through rose-coloured glasses. We’ve never seen a market like this. There are parts of our business that are really challenged right now,” he said.
● SOURCE Reuters
“You’ve got to say this is a negative short to middle term,” the CEO told analysts at a London investor day. But he said the banking consolidation now beginning represents a long-term opportunity.
“There’s a lot of compensating work that needs to be done now to stitch together all these trading operations,” Glocer said.
Thomson Reuters’ markets division is exposed to financial services and contributes 59 per cent of group sales. Glocer said the Thomson Financial legal and health professional business would help the company to weather the storm.
In slides for the presentation the company said it expected revenue growth of 6 to 8 per cent, almost all organic, and an underlying profit margin of 19 to 21 per cent for 2008.
It also reiterated targets to generate free cash flow of 11 to 12 per cent of sales for capital expenditure of 8 to 9 per cent of revenue.
The company said it had completed its refinancing needs for Thomson’s acquisition of Reuters in April through long-term debt offerings in June. It had a $2.5 billion credit facility on which it had not drawn.
Devin Wenig, markets division CEO, said the company’s foreign exchange business had its best month ever in September. But he could not predict how long it would take until conditions for the division as a whole would improve.
“We certainly are not viewing this through rose-coloured glasses. We’ve never seen a market like this. There are parts of our business that are really challenged right now,” he said.
● SOURCE Reuters
Thomson Reuters ‘halts hiring, travel’
Wednesday 17 September 2008
Thomson Reuters, hit by fallout from the financial crisis, has stopped hiring in its markets division and limited travel to hold down costs, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Citing an internal Thomson Reuters memo, it said new positions will be filled with existing employees, except where jobs are being moved to lower-cost locales such as Beijing, Bangalore or Poland.
Devin Wenig, CEO of the markets division, told staff that the company needs to make “prudent choices” as the pace and intensity of the changing financial landscape is “exceptional”.
The WSJ report, picked up by Thomson Reuters’ competitor Bloomberg, said jobs that have been vacated can be filled with an outside employee only with the approval of certain executives.
● SOURCE The Wall Street Journal | Bloomberg
Citing an internal Thomson Reuters memo, it said new positions will be filled with existing employees, except where jobs are being moved to lower-cost locales such as Beijing, Bangalore or Poland.
Devin Wenig, CEO of the markets division, told staff that the company needs to make “prudent choices” as the pace and intensity of the changing financial landscape is “exceptional”.
The WSJ report, picked up by Thomson Reuters’ competitor Bloomberg, said jobs that have been vacated can be filled with an outside employee only with the approval of certain executives.
● SOURCE The Wall Street Journal | Bloomberg
Business TV channel coming - report
Thursday 24 July 2008
Thomson Reuters is preparing to launch a business television news channel to rival those of Bloomberg and CNBC, The Daily Telegraph reported.
It will appear both on the Internet and some form of cable or digital platform. The launch could be as early as January but may be pushed back as the company is conscious of Reuters’ earlier unsuccessful foray into television, the UK newspaper said.
Thomson Reuters wants an extra avenue through which to channel content and raise revenues, The Daily Telegraph said.
“Going head-to-head with the other rolling business channels is a brave move by chief executive Tom Glocer, as it is an already crowded market,” it said.
The newspaper said the New York newsroom, which will act as the main studio for the channel, was opened yesterday by Devin Wenig, chief executive of the markets division.
It quoted David Schlesinger, editor-in-chief, as saying in an internal memorandum that the new newsroom was all about “multi-media opportunities”.
● SOURCE The Daily Telegraph
It will appear both on the Internet and some form of cable or digital platform. The launch could be as early as January but may be pushed back as the company is conscious of Reuters’ earlier unsuccessful foray into television, the UK newspaper said.
Thomson Reuters wants an extra avenue through which to channel content and raise revenues, The Daily Telegraph said.
“Going head-to-head with the other rolling business channels is a brave move by chief executive Tom Glocer, as it is an already crowded market,” it said.
The newspaper said the New York newsroom, which will act as the main studio for the channel, was opened yesterday by Devin Wenig, chief executive of the markets division.
It quoted David Schlesinger, editor-in-chief, as saying in an internal memorandum that the new newsroom was all about “multi-media opportunities”.
● SOURCE The Daily Telegraph
Investment and advisory chief quits
Wednesday 02 July 2008
Investment and advisory business chief Suresh Kavan has quit to join a unit of the Daily Mail and General Trust.
He will stay on until 31 July and then become chief executive of DMG Information, Devin Wenig, CEO of Thomson Reuters markets division, said in a statement. Kavan’s new job is based at Stamford, Connecticut.
His successor at Thomson Reuters is Eric Frank, who has led the investment management unit of the Thomson Reuters investment advisory business. He joined Thomson Financial in 2000 after it acquired Carson Group where he was managing director.
Kavan joined Thomson Financial when it bought Primark, a financial and data information company, in 2000.
● SOURCE Thomson Reuters
He will stay on until 31 July and then become chief executive of DMG Information, Devin Wenig, CEO of Thomson Reuters markets division, said in a statement. Kavan’s new job is based at Stamford, Connecticut.
His successor at Thomson Reuters is Eric Frank, who has led the investment management unit of the Thomson Reuters investment advisory business. He joined Thomson Financial in 2000 after it acquired Carson Group where he was managing director.
Kavan joined Thomson Financial when it bought Primark, a financial and data information company, in 2000.
● SOURCE Thomson Reuters
Leaked e-mail says job cuts soon
Wednesday 14 May 2008
A leaked internal e-mail confirms “significant” redundancies are about to be announced at Thomson Reuters to eliminate duplication caused by the merger.
The Guardian’s ● guardian.co.uk website said the e-mail was sent to senior managers by Devin Wenig, CEO of the markets division which includes the new company’s 2,600-strong global news operation.
It quoted him as writing: “It’s no secret that a significant amount of thought and planning has been dedicated to eliminating duplication and generating savings within our business. Over the next several days, we will communicate department by department the impact of our integration ... these actions will mean an immediate reduction in our headcount.”
Wenig added that the jobs that are impacted are largely the result of duplication between the two organisations. Most job losses will be completed by the end of the year but further cuts could be made if management decided to close certain products down completely.
“Going forward, there may be further merger related reductions in staff, but they will generally be tied to a specific decision to stop a business activity (such as to shut down a product, technology or a process).”
The website said Wenig also stressed that Thomson Reuters intends to grow in the medium term and that new jobs will be created.
It said a separate briefing document sent to managers in the markets division envisaged the cuts will be outlined from 14 to 22 May and consultations with unions and other bodies representing workers will begin on 19 May.
● SOURCE The Guardian
The Guardian’s ● guardian.co.uk website said the e-mail was sent to senior managers by Devin Wenig, CEO of the markets division which includes the new company’s 2,600-strong global news operation.
It quoted him as writing: “It’s no secret that a significant amount of thought and planning has been dedicated to eliminating duplication and generating savings within our business. Over the next several days, we will communicate department by department the impact of our integration ... these actions will mean an immediate reduction in our headcount.”
Wenig added that the jobs that are impacted are largely the result of duplication between the two organisations. Most job losses will be completed by the end of the year but further cuts could be made if management decided to close certain products down completely.
“Going forward, there may be further merger related reductions in staff, but they will generally be tied to a specific decision to stop a business activity (such as to shut down a product, technology or a process).”
The website said Wenig also stressed that Thomson Reuters intends to grow in the medium term and that new jobs will be created.
It said a separate briefing document sent to managers in the markets division envisaged the cuts will be outlined from 14 to 22 May and consultations with unions and other bodies representing workers will begin on 19 May.
● SOURCE The Guardian
