So Thomson Corporation’s takeover of Reuters has been rubberstamped by US and European regulators after the companies agreed to sell off some of their databases. The deal creates an absolutely huge data-vending and financial-information provider.
Thomson is a company that has long baffled me. Over the years, it has bought several leading platforms, many of which have subsequently disappeared off radar screens. It will be interesting to see if history repeats itself, but with Reuters management in senior roles, perhaps this can be avoided. It will also be interesting to see if the change of ownership at Reuters leads to a wide-ranging review of the products it is involved in. The deal is expected to complete in mid-April.