Overview

Thomson Reuters is a Canadian multinational information and technology company serving professionals and institutions in legal, tax, accounting, corporate, financial, government, and media markets. The modern company was created on 17 April 2008 when The Thomson Corporation acquired Reuters Group, combining Thomson’s substantial professional-publishing and information businesses with Reuters’ international news and financial-data operations. It is headquartered in Toronto and remains majority-owned by The Woodbridge Company, the holding company associated with the Thomson family. The company’s roots extend through two separate histories. The Thomson business began in 1934, when Roy Thomson established a newspaper publishing operation in Ontario. It expanded through newspapers, broadcasting, travel, energy, and eventually professional publishing. After withdrawing from national newspapers and broadcasting, the organization concentrated on specialized information and acquired Sweet & Maxwell in 1988 and West Publishing in 1996. West brought major legal research assets, including Westlaw, and helped establish the professional-information model that became central to Thomson Reuters. Reuters was founded in London in 1851 by Paul Julius Reuter as a service transmitting stock-market quotations between continental Europe and London. It developed into an international news agency and provider of financial and economic information. Reuters expanded its reporting network, adopted new communications technologies, listed publicly in 1984, and launched a series of financial-market products during the 1980s and 1990s, including Equities 2000, Dealing 2000-2, Business Briefing, the 3000 Series, and Reuters 3000 Xtra. Following the 2008 merger, Thomson Reuters organized its activities around professional information and workflow businesses together with Reuters News. Major offerings have included Westlaw and Practical Law for legal professionals; Checkpoint, ONESOURCE, and related tools for tax and accounting; Reuters news and data services for media, financial, and corporate users; and products supporting government, risk, compliance, and corporate operations. The company has also developed AI-enabled products, including CoCounsel, intended to help professionals research, draft, analyze, and complete workflow tasks. The merger was reviewed by competition authorities in the United States, Canada, and the European Union. Approval required divestitures and licensing arrangements involving certain financial-information databases and related assets. In a later European Commission matter concerning Reuters Instrument Codes, Thomson Reuters offered a licensing mechanism intended to permit customers using competing real-time datafeeds to translate the codes. Thomson Reuters has reshaped its portfolio through acquisitions, sales, and spin-offs. Its former healthcare business became Truven Health Analytics and was later acquired by IBM; its former Intellectual Property & Science division became Clarivate after a 2016 transaction. The company has also acquired businesses in legal technology, tax software, financial analytics, foreign exchange, media intelligence, brand protection, and corporate services. Its present identity is primarily that of a subscription and solutions provider whose products combine proprietary content, data, software, expert analysis, and automated workflows. Reuters News remains a globally recognized news operation, while the professional divisions provide recurring information and technology services to institutional and individual users.

History

Thomson Reuters emerged from the convergence of two long-established information businesses. The Thomson lineage began in 1934, when Roy Thomson founded a newspaper operation in Ontario. During the following decades, Thomson expanded into Scottish newspapers and television, acquired the Kemsley Group, gained control of major British newspaper assets, and entered airline and North Sea energy activities. After Roy Thomson’s death, the group withdrew from national newspapers and broadcasting, selling The Times and The Sunday Times in 1981. It redirected capital toward professional publishing, including the acquisition of Sweet & Maxwell in 1988. In 1989, International Thomson Organization merged with Thomson Newspapers to form The Thomson Corporation. Thomson strengthened its legal-information position through the 1996 acquisition of West Publishing, whose assets included Westlaw. Reuters was established in London in 1851 by Paul Julius Reuter. Its early business transmitted stock quotations between continental exchanges and London, using telegraph connections and a contract with the London Stock Exchange. Reuters developed a reputation for fast international reporting and expanded into news, financial information, and market services. It adopted radio technology in the 1920s, became associated with the British National & Provincial Press in 1941, and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1984. During the 1980s and 1990s, Reuters broadened its global reporting network and introduced products for equities, dealing, market intelligence, television, and financial-data terminals, including Equities 2000, Dealing 2000-2, the 3000 Series, and Reuters 3000 Xtra. The Thomson Corporation announced its acquisition of Reuters Group in 2007, and the transaction closed on 17 April 2008. The combination created a company with substantial positions in legal research, tax and accounting, financial data, corporate information, and international news. Because of the competitive overlap in financial information, regulators in the United States, Canada, and the European Union reviewed the merger. The U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission required divestiture or licensing arrangements involving selected databases such as WorldScope, Reuters Estimates, and the Reuters Aftermarket Research Database. The combined company initially operated under a dual-listed structure before consolidating its listing arrangements in 2009. After the merger, Thomson Reuters pursued a broad acquisition program while also simplifying its portfolio. It acquired or integrated businesses in tax software, legal workflow, financial analytics, foreign exchange, media intelligence, brand protection, and corporate services. Examples included Practical Law, MarkMonitor, FX Alliance, Pangea3, Dr Tax, and other specialized providers. It sold or separated non-core operations, including the healthcare business, which became Truven Health Analytics and was later acquired by IBM, and the Intellectual Property & Science division, which became Clarivate in 2016. The company’s operating model increasingly combined authoritative content with software, data, analytics, and workflow automation. Its legal business centers on Westlaw, Practical Law, and related products; its tax and accounting activities include Checkpoint and ONESOURCE; and Reuters News supplies journalism and information to media, financial, corporate, and public-sector customers. In the 2020s, Thomson Reuters placed greater emphasis on generative artificial intelligence and introduced CoCounsel as an AI assistant for professional work. This development reflects the company’s continuing effort to move from static information subscriptions toward integrated, technology-supported professional workflows. Thomson Reuters remains an active, publicly traded Canadian company with global operations and a controlling shareholder connected to the Thomson family.

2025
U.S. listing moves to Nasdaq
[1]Thomson Reutersen.wikipedia.org
Thomson Reuters begins trading on Nasdaq after leaving the New York Stock Exchange.
2016
Intellectual Property & Science becomes Clarivate
[1]Thomson Reutersen.wikipedia.org
Thomson Reuters separates the division in a transaction with Onex and Baring Private Equity Asia.
2012
European market-data commitments become binding
[1]Thomson Reutersen.wikipedia.org
The company accepts a licensing framework relating to Reuters Instrument Codes and competing real-time datafeeds.
2009
Dual-listed structure is unified
[1]Thomson Reutersen.wikipedia.org
The company simplifies its listing structure and ends its London and Nasdaq listings under the former arrangement.
2008
Thomson Reuters is created
[1]Thomson Reutersen.wikipedia.org
The Thomson Corporation completes its acquisition of Reuters Group on 17 April.
1996
Thomson acquires West Publishing
[1]Thomson Reutersen.wikipedia.org
The deal gives Thomson major legal-research assets, including Westlaw.
1988
Thomson acquires Sweet & Maxwell
[1]Thomson Reutersen.wikipedia.org
The acquisition marks Thomson’s deeper move into specialized professional publishing.
1984
Reuters lists publicly
[1]Thomson Reutersen.wikipedia.org
Reuters Group begins trading on the London Stock Exchange.
1934
Thomson publishing lineage begins
[1]Thomson Reutersen.wikipedia.org
Roy Thomson establishes the newspaper business that becomes the foundation of the Thomson corporate group.
1851
Reuters is founded in London
[1]Thomson Reutersen.wikipedia.org
Paul Julius Reuter establishes a business transmitting stock-market quotations between continental Europe and London.

Products and positioning

Trusted, subscription-based professional information and workflow technology for high-consequence decisions and regulated work.

Legal research and workflow
Westlaw
A legal information platform built around case law, legislation, secondary sources, analytical tools, and research workflows. Westlaw is one of Thomson Reuters’ principal legal brands and supports law firms, corporate legal departments, courts, governments, and academic users.
Legal know-how and workflow
Practical Law
A legal know-how service providing practical guidance, standard documents, checklists, toolkits, and workflow resources for lawyers and legal teams. Thomson Reuters acquired Practical Law in 2013 and integrated it into its Legal business.
News agency · 1851
Reuters News
An international news operation supplying reporting, photographs, video, graphics, and related information to media organizations, financial institutions, corporations, and other customers. Reuters is the principal journalism brand within Thomson Reuters.
Tax and accounting information
Checkpoint
A professional research and workflow platform for tax, accounting, audit, and related compliance work. It combines editorial guidance, primary materials, analysis, and tools intended to help practitioners interpret and apply changing rules.
Corporate tax technology
ONESOURCE
A suite of corporate tax, compliance, reporting, and indirect-tax technologies for businesses and multinational organizations. The products are designed to connect tax data, calculations, documentation, and filing workflows.
Generative AI professional assistant · 2023
CoCounsel
An AI-enabled assistant for professional work, particularly legal research and document-related tasks. It is positioned as a workflow product that helps users review, summarize, research, draft, and analyze information while working with Thomson Reuters content and tools.
Brand protection
MarkMonitor
A brand-protection service supporting monitoring and enforcement against online infringement, counterfeit activity, and misuse of intellectual property. Thomson Reuters acquired MarkMonitor in 2012.

Controversies

2020
Thomson Reuters sues ROSS over alleged use of Westlaw materials
Thomson Reuters filed a lawsuit against ROSS, alleging that ROSS used its West Key Number System and West Headnotes without permission. The article reports the lawsuit as having been filed the previous day. The report characterizes the dispute as raising the question of whether court data can be owned.
Source

Brand decisions

2025
Move of U.S. listing to NasdaqOther
Background
Thomson Reuters announced a change to the U.S. market on which its common shares trade.
Action taken
The company ended trading on the NYSE at the close of 24 February and began trading on Nasdaq on 25 February.
Aftermath
The company continued to trade under the ticker TRI.
Source
2023
Expansion of CoCounsel AI assistantProduct launch
Background
Generative AI created both competitive pressure and an opportunity to automate professional research and document workflows.
Action taken
Thomson Reuters developed and commercialized CoCounsel as an AI assistant for professional users.
Aftermath
The product became a central element of the company’s technology and product strategy.
Source
2016
Separation of Intellectual Property & ScienceM&A
Background
Thomson Reuters decided to separate the former Thomson Scientific and Intellectual Property & Science operations from its core professional-information businesses.
Action taken
The division was sold to Onex Corporation and Baring Private Equity Asia and became Clarivate.
Aftermath
Clarivate operated as an independent information-services company.
Transaction value. $3.55 billion (2016)
Source
2013
Workforce and cost-reduction programStrategy
Background
The company sought to reduce costs in legal, financial, and risk businesses amid portfolio and operating changes.
Action taken
Thomson Reuters announced reductions of approximately 2,500 positions in February and approximately 3,000 additional positions in October.
Aftermath
The announcements reflected a broad restructuring of the combined company’s professional-information operations.
Source
2012
Reuters Instrument Code licensing commitmentStrategy
Background
The European Commission examined whether the use of Reuters Instrument Codes could hinder customers moving to competing real-time datafeed providers.
Action taken
Thomson Reuters offered a licence permitting customers to use the codes with data sourced from competing consolidated feeds.
Aftermath
The European Commission made the commitments legally binding in December 2012.
Source
2008
Regulatory remedies for the Reuters mergerM&A
Background
Authorities identified competition concerns in overlapping financial-information databases and market-data services.
Action taken
Thomson Reuters committed to divest selected databases and provide related intellectual-property, personnel, and transitional support.
Aftermath
The United States and European Union cleared the transaction with remedies; Canada also cleared it.
Source
2007
Agreement to combine Thomson and ReutersM&A
Background
The two companies sought to combine Thomson’s professional-information businesses with Reuters’ news and financial-data operations.
Action taken
The Thomson Corporation agreed to acquire Reuters Group, subject to shareholder and regulatory processes.
Aftermath
The transaction closed in April 2008 and created Thomson Reuters.
Source

Recent events

2025
Thomson Reuters changes U.S. stock-market listing to Nasdaq[1]Thomson Reutersen.wikipedia.org
Other
The company announced that its U.S. listing would move from the New York Stock Exchange to the Nasdaq Global Select Market, with trading beginning on 25 February 2025.
2016
Thomson Reuters spins off Intellectual Property & Science business[1]Thomson Reutersen.wikipedia.org
M&A
The former division became Clarivate following a transaction involving Onex and Baring Private Equity Asia.
2013
Thomson Reuters announces workforce reductions[1]Thomson Reutersen.wikipedia.org
Other
The company announced plans to reduce approximately 2,500 positions in legal, financial, and risk operations, followed later in the year by a further reduction of approximately 3,000 jobs.
2012
European Commission makes Reuters Instrument Code commitments binding[1]Thomson Reutersen.wikipedia.org
Regulation
The Commission accepted commitments involving a licence that enabled customers to use Reuters Instrument Codes with competing real-time market-data services.
2008
Thomson Reuters completes merger with Reuters[1]Thomson Reutersen.wikipedia.org
M&A
The Thomson Corporation completed its purchase of Reuters Group on 17 April, creating the combined company.
2008
U.S. and European authorities clear Thomson–Reuters transaction with remedies[1]Thomson Reutersen.wikipedia.org
Regulation · M&A
Competition authorities required divestitures and related licensing, personnel, and transitional-support measures involving selected financial-data products.
2007
Thomson Corporation agrees to acquire Reuters Group[1]Thomson Reutersen.wikipedia.org
M&A
The proposed transaction set out the combination that created Thomson Reuters in 2008.

Related entries

The Woodbridge Company