Thomson, Reuters Agree on Merger Terms

THOMPSON, REUTERS AGREE ON MERGER TERMS
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
Reuters Group PLC and Thomson Corp. said Tuesday they agreed on terms for a merger to create one of the world's largest financial news providers. The cash and stock transaction values Reuters at $17.2 billion. Reuters trustees, who could have vetoed any takeover, endorsed the deal. Reuters competes with Thomson and Bloomberg LP in providing data terminals to the world's major banks and brokerages. Reuters was the market leader for years before steadily losing ground to Bloomberg. An April report from Inside Market Data Reference said Bloomberg has a 33 percent share of the market, with Reuters holding 23 percent and Thomson 11 percent. London-based Reuters was born in 1851 when Paul Julius Reuter started sending stock market quotations between London and Paris via the new Calais-Dover cable.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...

* Thomson Adds Reuters in $17 Billion Bid to Be Giant
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/business/media/16thomson.html

* Reuters Trustees Say Sale Won't Hurt Journalism
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/business/media/16integrity.html

* Reuters, Thomson Reach Deal to Create Data Giant
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR200705...

* Reuters trustees approve $17B offer
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20070516/2b_reuters16.art.htm

* Thomson's acquisition of Reuters faces scrutiny
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
Thomson Corp.'s $17.6-billion takeover of Reuters Group announced Tuesday now faces scrutiny from antitrust regulators and unions unhappy about expected job cuts. The renamed Thomson-Reuters Corp. would reduce the number of major companies providing financial data, news and trading systems to the financial services industry from three to two and vault it slightly ahead of the current market leader, privately held Bloomberg. Reuters journalists expressed their "deep concerns" in an open letter to Pehr Gyllenhammar, chairman of the trustee company, "over whether a reconstituted Reuters would maintain the high standards of journalism and the integrity, independence and freedom from bias that have shaped the company's 156-year-old reputation and are crucial to its future success."
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-reuters16may16,1,6013...
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