What Happened to Reuters?

Reuters was founded in London in 1851 by Paul Julius Reuter, initially transmitting stock market quotations via telegraph. It quickly expanded to cover international news, gaining a reputation for speed and accuracy, notably being the first in Europe to report on Abraham Lincoln's assassination in 1865. Over the decades, Reuters pioneered new technologies for news dissemination, including radio in 1923. To safeguard its independence and integrity, the Reuters Trust Principles were established in 1941, ensuring freedom from bias in news gathering and distribution.

In 1984, Reuters became a publicly listed company on the London Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. A pivotal moment occurred in 2008 when The Thomson Corporation of Canada acquired Reuters Group plc, forming Thomson Reuters. This merger combined Reuters' renowned news and information services with Thomson's extensive financial data and analytics, creating a global powerhouse in business information. Following the merger, Thomson Reuters delisted from the LSE and NASDAQ in 2009, listing its shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Today, Thomson Reuters is headquartered in Toronto and provides critical information, software, and AI-enabled workflow tools to professionals across legal, tax, accounting, compliance, government, and media sectors. While Reuters continues its core mission as a news agency, it operates within this broader corporate structure. The company's business model is characterized by high-margin recurring revenue streams, with its "Big 3" segments (Legal Professionals, Corporates, and Tax, Audit & Accounting Professionals) accounting for the majority of its revenue.

A significant strategic focus for Thomson Reuters in 2025 and 2026 has been the aggressive integration and development of artificial intelligence. Reuters itself has shifted to a "lead and shape" AI strategy, using AI to enhance newsgathering efficiency and analysis, while strictly maintaining editorial standards and prohibiting AI-generated video or imagery to preserve trust. For its professional services, Thomson Reuters has launched and scaled AI-powered products like CoCounsel, acquired through the 2023 purchase of Casetext, which surpassed one million active users by February 2026. The company has also made strategic AI-focused acquisitions, including SafeSend (tax automation) in January 2025, Additive (AI-powered tax document processing) in September 2025, and Noetica (AI-powered benchmarking for corporate transaction terms) in February 2026.

Financially, Thomson Reuters demonstrated strong performance. For the full year 2025, the company reported revenues of $7.48 billion, with 7% organic revenue growth, and adjusted EPS of $3.92. In Q4 2025, reported on February 5, 2026, revenues rose 5% to $2.01 billion, with 7% organic growth. The Reuters News segment specifically saw 7% revenue growth in Q4 2025, driven by AI-related content licensing and its agreement with the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). The company's outlook for 2026 projects accelerated organic revenue growth of 7.5%-8.0% and a 100 basis point expansion in adjusted EBITDA margin, with free cash flow expected to reach approximately $2.1 billion.

As of March 23, 2026, Reuters continues its role as a vital source of global news, covering major geopolitical and economic events, such as the ongoing conflict in Iran impacting oil prices. Within Thomson Reuters, the company is firmly positioned as a leader in leveraging AI to transform professional workflows and information delivery. The Thomson family, through The Woodbridge Company Limited, maintains a controlling ownership stake (approximately 66.7% as of April 2025), ensuring long-term strategic direction. The company's sustained investment in AI, coupled with its strong financial performance and commitment to its Trust Principles, underscores its enduring relevance in the evolving media and information landscape.