Back in 2006, when the platform was announced, Reuters said: “Our share of losses, prior to the venture reaching profitability, is expected to be in the range of $20 to $25 million, or £11 to £14 million, with the majority of this being incurred in 2007. Our share of pre-launch start-up costs in 2006, mostly hiring staff and marketing, is expected to be around $5 million, or £3 million. The joint venture is expected to become profitable during 2008.”
At the same time, Tom Glocer, Reuters’ chief executive, said: “In short, Reuters will own 50% of what I believe will be the leading marketplace for the world’s most actively traded asset class.”
Switch forward to March 2008 and Reuters’ preliminary results show that it lost £7 million on FXMS in 2007 and the same in 2006 – the total it had anticipated it would spend before the platform reached profitability, which still looks a long way away.
But Glocer remains upbeat. He also suggests the struggling platform will be around for some time yet: “On FXMS, the thing to say is that nothing has changed dramatically. We are doing something very innovative.