Financial News Release

Deal positions the newly combined team as the global leader in financial commentary

New York, London - Thomson Reuters today confirms that it has completed its acquisition of Breakingviews, a leading provider of agenda-setting financial insight, positioning the newly combined commentary organization as the global leader in point-of-view journalism servicing the financial markets.

Reuters Breakingviews provides concise, relevant and sophisticated commentary on all major economic and business news, including key developments in monetary and fiscal policy, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, and commodities and energy. Reuters Breakingviews comments on those developments that are critical to, and have the potential to move, financial markets.

The output of the combined team of Reuters original commentary team and the Breakingviews commentary team will be known as Reuters Breakingviews making a clear distinction between the organization’s news service and commentary offerings. The Reuters Breakingviews attribution will designate the commentary and opinion of the named authors, while Reuters will designate the expert sourced news and analysis that has moved markets and provided insight for more than 150 years.

“A fundamental plank of our Editorial strategy for making Reuters the indispensable news service for the 21st century is to expand our traditional fact-based news coverage to also offer agenda-setting point-of-view journalism.  I am confident we will build upon reputation and expertise from both Reuters and Breakingviews and leverage the expertise of the combined organization,” said David Schlesinger, editor in chief, Reuters.

Reuters Breakingviews currently has about 30 columnists based in London, New York, Hong Kong, Paris, Washington, Moscow and Madrid, with immediate plans for expanded coverage in the Gulf, Japan, Germany and India.  

The newly combined service is available on all Thomson Reuters desktops with selected commentaries to appear on Reuters.com.  Reuters Breakingviews also reaches a broader audience of nearly 4.5 million investors and opinion formers via daily columns in many of the world’s most influential newspapers, including The New York Times, Le Monde, The Daily Telegraph and the International Herald Tribune.

Hugo Dixon, editor, Reuters Breakingviews, who will be running the combined commentary team, said: “The enlarged team will have global reach, allowing us to react more rapidly to breaking news and cover more stories. We will also now be able to reach hundreds of thousands more influential readers through Thomson Reuters desktops.”

Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, healthcare and science and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people and operates in over 100 countries. For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com.

About Breakingviews
Breakingviews was founded in 1999 to provide online financial commentary aimed at a professional audience. It is one of a handful of journalism websites to have successfully introduced a subscription model. The company also has a thriving syndication business. Branded Breakingviews columns appear in 15 leading publications around the world. The company continued to grow through the financial crisis with revenue rising last year by 23%. Since its inception, Breakingviews has been influential on a broad range of stories including the TMT bubble, numerous takeover sagas, the credit bubble and subsequent banking crisis, and how the financial system should now be reformed.

Contacts

Courtney Dolan
Head of Public Relations, Editorial
Tel: +1 646.223.8406
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