FORM 6-K
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
Report of Foreign Issuer
Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16 of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
For the month May 1999
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REUTERS GROUP PLC
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(Translation of registrant's name into English)
85 FLEET STREET, LONDON EC4P 4AJ, ENGLAND
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(Address of principal executive offices)
[Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual
reports under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.]
Form 20-F _X_ Form 40-F __
[Indicate by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the
information contained in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to
the Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of
1934.]
Yes ___ No _X_
THIS REPORT IS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE IN THE PROSPECTUSES CONTAINED IN POST
EFFECTIVE AMENDMENT NO. 2 TO REGISTRATION STATEMENT NO. 33-16927 ON FORM S-8,
POST-EFFECTIVE AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO REGISTRATION STATEMENT NO. 33-69694 ON FORM
F-3, POST-EFFECTIVE AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO REGISTRATION STATEMENT NO. 33-90398 ON
FORM S-8, POST-EFFECTIVE AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO REGISTRATION STATEMENT NO. 333-7374
ON FORM F-3 AND REGISTRATION STATEMENT NO. 333-5998 ON FORM S-8 FILED BY THE
REGISTRANT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
REUTERS GROUP PLC
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(Registrant)
Dated: June 11, 1999 By: /s/ Nancy C. Gardner
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Nancy C. Gardner
Attorney-in-Fact
[REUTERS LOGO]
[GRAPHIC] NEWS RELEASE
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Robert Crooke Nancy Bobrowitz
Media Relations Investor Relations
Reuters America Inc. Reuters America Inc.
212-603-3587
212-603-3345
Terrence Mulry
Corporate Communications
Instinet Corporation
212-310-9554
INSTINET FORMS CONSORTIUM TO ACQUIRE 54% OF TRADEPOINT FOR (POUND)14 MILLION
London, May 6, 1999 - Reuters announced today that its subsidiary, Instinet
Corporation, is forming a consortium to acquire a majority interest (54.4%) in
Tradepoint Financial Networks PLC, the London-based electronic stock exchange,
for (pound)14 million.
Subject to Tradepoint shareholder and regulatory approval, the consortium will
subscribe for 70 million new ordinary Tradepoint shares at 20p per share.
Provision has been made for the consortium to increase its stake in Tradepoint
to over 60%.
The consortium consists of Instinet (an agency broker), American Century (a
leading US mutual fund manager), Archipelago (the US electronic communications
network, in which Goldman Sachs and E*Trade are major investors), as well as
J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co (leading US investment banks).
Other financial institutions have expressed an interest in joining the
consortium.
Tradepoint is an electronic order-driven equities market for UK securities, with
a fully transparent order book. Established in 1996 as a for-profit exchange, it
currently has over 80 members, including institutions and broker-dealers.
Instinet, founded in 1969, is the largest global agency broker and a leader in
electronic trading technology. It is a member of 17 exchanges in North America,
Europe and Asia and offers equity trading, research, and direct electronic
access to all operators in the global markets.
DOUGLAS M ATKIN, Instinet's chief executive, said: "Given the economics of the
capital markets, the for-profit market model will be increasingly important to
the future development and evolution of many exchanges. We believe Tradepoint
represents a combination of visionary thinking and technology which complements
Instinet's brokerage model as well as our work with exchanges worldwide to open
the capital gateways to investors around the world."
HAROLD BRADLEY, senior vice president of American Century, said: "We see the
Tradepoint investment as consistent with our mission to lower trading costs for
our investors, to promote efficient markets and ultimately to increase
investment returns for our mutual fund shareholders."
JERKER M JOHANSSON, chief operating officer of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's
institutional equity division in Europe, said: "This investment is consistent
with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's continued commitment to provide our clients
with innovative ways to access markets through the application of technology."
END (12/99)
NOTE TO EDITORS
INSTINET, founded in 1969 as an agency broker, is now the global leader in
agency brokerage and the development of innovative electronic trading
technology, offering equity trading, research and direct electronic access to
global markets. Instinet is a member of 17 exchanges in North America, Europe,
and Asia. Instinet pioneered the use of advanced technology to improve the
trading performance of investment professionals worldwide. That principle still
guides its growth and development as a leader in providing electronic brokerage
services to investors in the world markets.
REUTERS (NASDAQ: RTRSY) supplies the global financial markets and the news media
with the widest range of information and news products including real-time
financial data, collective investment data, numerical, textual, historical and
graphical databases plus news, graphics, news video, and news pictures, reaching
over 485,000 users in 57,900 locations. Reuters designs and installs
enterprise-wide information management and risk management systems for the
financial markets as well as providing equity and foreign exchange transaction
systems. It extensively uses internet technologies for wider distribution of
information and news. The Group employed 16,938 staff in 218 cities in 96
countries at December 31, 1998.
Reuters is the world's largest news and television agency with 2,072
journalists, photographers and camera operators in 182 bureaus serving 157
countries. News is published in 22 languages.
For more details see www.reuters.com/mediapack/
Reuters and the dotted and sphere logos are the trademarks of the Reuters Group
of Companies.
11 May 1999 No: 14/99
REUTERS SUBSIDIARY, TIBCO SOFTWARE, HAS FILED FOR IPO
London - Reuters Group PLC announced today that its subsidiary, TIBCO Software
Inc., based in Palo Alto California, has filed a Registration Statement with the
US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a proposed initial public
offering (IPO) of common stock. It is expected that the IPO will be completed in
the third quarter of 1999. All of the common stock offered in the IPO will be
sold by TIBCO Software; Reuters will not receive any proceeds from the offering.
Following the IPO, Reuters will remain the largest single shareholder in TIBCO
Software.
Reuters acquired Teknekron Software Systems, Inc. in March 1994 for $125 million
and renamed the company TIBCO Inc. in 1996. In January 1997, Reuters established
TIBCO Software as a separate entity to exploit TIBCO technologies outside the
financial services market. TIBCO Inc. was then renamed TIBCO Finance Technology
Inc. and continues to focus on opportunities within financial service
industries. It is not part of the IPO and remains a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Reuters. Reuters continues to own the underlying TIBCO technology which it
licenses to TIBCO Software.
DAVID URE, Reuters executive director, said: "Establishing TIBCO Software as a
publicly quoted company is intended to provide TIBCO Software with capital,
brand recognition and attractive opportunities to recruit and retain key
software engineering staff."
A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the
SEC but has not yet become effective. These securities may not be sold nor may
offers to buy be accepted prior to the time the registration statement becomes
effective. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the
solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of these securities
in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior
to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such state.
END
CONTACTS:
Peter Thomas Tel: +44 171 542 4980
Director, Media Relations
peter.v.thomas@reuters.com
Adrian Duffield Tel: +44 171 542 8666
Manager, Corporate Communications
adrian.duffield@reuters.com
For more information about Reuters see www.reuters.com/mediapack/
Reuters and the dotted and sphere logos are the trademarks of the Reuters Group
of Companies.
Contact: Robert Crooke Tel: 212-603-3587
Vice President, Media Relations, Reuters America Inc.
robert.crooke@reuters.com
Nancy Bobrowitz Tel: 212-603-3345
Vice President, Investor Relations, Reuters America Inc.
nancy.bobrowitz@reuters.com
Terrence J. Mulry Tel: 212-310-9554
Vice President, Corporate Communications
Instinet Corporation
terrence_mulry@instinet.com
INSTINET ACQUIRES 11.4% OF W.R.HAMBRECHT FOR
US$20 MILLION
London, May 11, 1999 - Reuters electronic broking subsidiary, Instinet, has
acquired an 11.4% stake for US$20 million in W.R.Hambrecht + Co, an investment
bank based in San Francisco.
In February 1999, W.R.Hambrecht launched `OpenIPO system', an auction-based
method of taking companies public on the Internet, which has been extensively
used by technology-driven investment banks. The system offers companies a way to
generate capital more efficiently through technology by offering individuals
greater access to the IPO process and by introducing transparency for all
institutional and individual investors. The offering of IPO's over the Internet
also enables investors to participate in setting the optimal price.
Instinet and W.R.Hambrecht are also in advanced negotiations regarding an
international joint venture to increase the efficiencies of the capital raising
business in Europe and Asia through Instinet's global agency brokerage using
W.R.Hambrecht's OpenIPO system.
DOUG ATKIN, Instinet's chief executive officer, commented: "For issuers,
W.R.Hambrecht's OpenIPO method represents a fundamentally new way to raise
capital at much lower cost. For investors, many of whom have been excluded from
participation in IPOs, it means the ability to participate. This alliance goes
to the heart of Instinet's strategy to make issuers and investors more
efficient."
-2-
END 13/99)
NOTE TO EDITORS
INSTINET, founded in 1969 as an agency broker, is now the global leader in
agency brokerage and the development of innovative electronic trading
technology, offering equity trading, research and direct electronic access to
global markets. Instinet is a member of 17 exchanges in North America, Europe,
and Asia. Instinet pioneered the use of advanced technology to improve the
trading performance of investment professionals world-wide. That principle still
guides its growth and development as a leader in providing electronic brokerage
services to investors in the world markets.
W.R. HAMBRECHT + Co. offers a full range of financial services that builds on
its stated 'early investing' philosophy focusing on emerging companies. Founded
in January 1998 by Silicon Valley pioneer Bill Hambrecht, W.R. Hambrecht + Co.
became a licensed broker-dealer in July 1998. The company is active in
investment banking, electronic brokerage services, private equity, mergers and
acquisitions advisory services, research, trading and electronic underwriting
through its OpenIPO
system. Initially, W.R. Hambrecht + Co. is focusing on three growth industries
significantly affected by new technological developments: software, the
Internet, and branded consumer products.
REUTERS (NASDAQ: RTRSY) supplies the global financial markets and the news media
with the widest range of information and news products including real-time
financial data, collective investment data, numerical, textual, historical and
graphical databases plus news, graphics, news video, and news pictures, reaching
over 485,000 users in 57,900 locations. Reuters designs and installs
enterprise-wide information management and risk management systems for the
financial markets as well as providing equity and foreign exchange transaction
systems. It extensively uses internet technologies for wider distribution of
information and news. The Group employed 16,938 staff in 218 cities in 96
countries at December 31, 1998. Reuters is the world's largest news and
television agency with 2,072 journalists, photographers and camera operators in
182 bureaus serving 157 countries. News is published in 22 languages.
For more details see www.reuters.com/mediapack/
Reuters and the dotted and sphere logos are the trademarks of the Reuters Group
of Companies.
17 MAY 1999
DOW JONES AND REUTERS COMBINE INTERACTIVE
BUSINESS SERVICES
NEW VENTURE WILL OFFER COMBINED INTERNET PRODUCT TO GLOBAL CORPORATE DESKTOP
MARKET
London - Dow Jones and Company and Reuters announced today that they have agreed
to combine their interactive business services, Dow Jones Interactive and
Reuters Business Briefing.
The agreement will result in the formation of a new joint venture, Dow Jones
Reuters Business Interactive LLC, with combined 1998 revenues of more than
US$225 million. The new company will be a leading global service provider of
proprietary and third-party business information to corporate and professional
markets. Importantly, it will target business professionals at their desktops
through Internet distribution.
Dow Jones Reuters Business Interactive LLC will develop an innovative new
web-based service to provide corporate news, information and research data for
many categories of business professionals. It is currently planned to launch
this product, with its innovative features and functionality, within 12 months.
Before the new product is launched, both Dow Jones and Reuters will provide
proprietary content to one another's existing products enabling their respective
customers to access and benefit from their combined information sources.
Both companies believe that the potential for developing the business
information market for corporate users is significant. Independent research
indicates that there are some five million potential corporate users worldwide,
and that the corporate information market may be worth some US$6 billion by
2002. The new company will be well positioned to benefit from the growth in this
market. It will provide multiple language content and interfaces and will extend
its penetration into developed markets in North America and Western Europe and
exploit emerging markets in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.
PETER JOB, Reuters chief executive, said: "The business information market is
growing rapidly. To benefit fully from its growth one needs size, considerable
information access and a leading market position. This combination provides
those attributes and offers both partners excellent opportunities to realise the
potential of the business information market worldwide, particularly through
exploiting Internet technology. We are delighted to have been able to bring
about this venture."
PETER KANN, chairman and chief executive officer, Dow Jones and Company, said:
"Combining Dow Jones Interactive and Reuters Business Briefing will bring
together the leading, state-of-the-art business `current awareness' and archival
services in North America, Europe and Asia, which we expect to be a `must-have'
offering for every corporate desktop worldwide. We're thrilled to have completed
this agreement."
The new joint venture company will be owned equally by Reuters and Dow Jones
with a board of directors comprising representatives from the two companies. Its
president and chief executive will be Timothy Andrews, currently vice president
and editor of enterprise products for Dow Jones Interactive Publishing. The
non-executive chairmanship of the board will rotate between the two parent
companies. Rob Rowley, Reuters finance director, will be the first to hold the
position.
Dow Jones Interactive, formerly known as Dow Jones News/Retrieval, provides
archival material from The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires and more
than 6,000 other publications and is currently available on more than 650,000
desktops around the world. Reuters Business Briefing delivers to over 6,000
corporations and financial institutions a database of over 4,000 sources
including leading newspapers, newswires, trade journals and magazines as well as
archived Reuters news wires.
The new venture will have archival rights to The Wall Street Journal, including
its international editions, and be able to access extensive content from more
than 7,000 international business news and information sources in 20 languages,
with user interfaces in 11 of these languages.
The new venture does not involve the two companies' consumer Internet products,
including The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition and Reuters digital new
media products, nor their competing real-time financial newswires.
End
CONTACT:
REUTERS:
Geoff Wicks Tel: +44 171 542 8666
Director, Corporate Relations
geoff.wicks@reuters.com
Peter V. Thomas Tel: +44 171 542 4890
Director, Media Relations
peter.v.thomas@reuters.com
Robert Crooke Tel: (212) 603 3587
Vice President, Media Relations, Reuters America Inc.
robert.crooke@reuters.com
Nancy Bobrowitz Tel: (212) 603 3345
Vice President, Investor Relations, Reuters America Inc.
nancy.bobrowitz@reuters.com
DOW JONES & COMPANY
Richard Tofel Tel: (212) 416 2951
Vice President, Corporate Communications
dick.tofel@dowjones.com
VALERIE GERARD TEL: (212) 416 2687
Director of Investor Relations
valerie.gerard@dowjones.com
Brigitte Trafford Tel: +44 171 842 9690
Director of Corporate Communications, London
brigitte.trafford@dowjones.com
NOTE TO EDITORS
PRESS BRIEFINGS
NEW YORK - 17 MAY 1999:
There will be a press conference in New York today at 4pm (BST). UK and European
press may listen in to this event by dialling:
Domestic (US) 800 633 8763
International: 001 212 346 6423
(Quoting reservation number 12376646 for both)
London - 18 May 1999:
Timothy Andrews (CEO, Dow Jones Reuters Business Interactive LLC) and Michele
Lally (Director, Reuters Corporate Information Group) will be available to brief
the press and answer questions on Tuesday 18 May at 2.30pm.
The press briefing will take place at:
Financial Dynamics, 30 Furnival Street, London EC4.
Registration and coffee from 2.15pm
For further information or to register, please contact:
Shirley Andrew / Bridget Currie, Financial Dynamics, tel: 0171 831 3113
ABOUT DOW JONES & COMPANY
In addition to Dow Jones Interactive, Dow Jones & Company publishes The Wall
Street Journal and its international and Interactive editions, Dow Jones
Newswires, Dow Jones Indexes, Barron's and SmartMoney magazines and other
periodicals, and the Ottaway group of community newspapers. Dow Jones is
co-owner of the CNBC television operations in Europe and Asia, and also provides
news content to CNBC in the U.S.
For more details see www.dj.com
ABOUT REUTERS
Reuters supplies the global financial markets and the news media with the widest
range of information and news products including real-time financial data,
collective investment data, numerical, textual, historical and graphical
databases plus news, graphics, news video, and news pictures, reaching over
485,000 users located in 57,900 organisations. Reuters designs and installs
enterprise-wide information management and risk management systems for the
financial markets as well as providing equity and foreign exchange transaction
systems. It extensively uses internet technologies for wider distribution of
information and news. The Group employed 16,938 staff in 218 cities in 96
countries at 31 December 1998. Reuters is the world's largest news and
television agency with 2,072 journalists, photographers and camera operators in
182 bureaux serving 157 countries. News is published in 23 languages.
For more details see www.reuters.com/aboutreuters
Reuters and the dotted and sphere logos are the trademarks of the Reuters Group
of Companies.
THIS RELEASE CONTAINS FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS THAT INVOLVE RISKS AND
UNCERTAINTIES THAT COULD CAUSE ACTUAL RESULTS TO DIFFER MATERIALLY FROM THOSE
ANTICIPATED. SUCH RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO, THE
SIZE OF THE CORPORATE DESKTOP MARKET FOR ON-LINE BUSINESS INFORMATION AND
RESEARCH SERVICES AND THE EXTENT TO WHICH THAT MARKET GROWS; COMPETITION FROM
OTHER ON-LINE AND TRADITIONAL BUSINESS INFORMATION SERVICES; DIFFICULTIES OR
DELAYS THAT MAY BE ENCOUNTERED IN THE DEVELOPMENT, PRODUCTION, TESTING OR
IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW PRODUCTS; AND SUCH OTHER RISK FACTORS AS HAVE BEEN OR MAY
BE INCLUDED FROM TIME TO TIME IN THE REPORTS THAT REUTERS GROUP PLC OR DOW JONES
& COMPANY, INC. FILE WITH THE SEC.