Thomson Reuters makes 3,000 redundant as it "focuses on global cost structure" and the "need to simplify"
Financial news and wire service Thomson Reuters has made 3,000 of its 50,000 employees redundant, with the financial sector - notably the sales, training and analysts’ divisions – hit hardest, but editorial was also affected.
Vice president, Barb Burg, confirmed the redundancies to Talking Biz News, saying: “Yes, I can confirm there have been layoffs across Thomson Reuters, including editorial.
“Similar to efforts across the company, the Reuters organization is focusing attention on our global cost structure as well as the need to simplify and ensure we have the skills and expertise within our organization so we can continue to contribute maximum value to the business and our customers.”
Speaking to the New York Observer, Chris Roush, the director of business news initiatives at the University of North Carolina’s School of Journalism & Mass Communication said that it is a combination of Wall Street’s struggles and tough competition from Bloomberg which resulted in the cut-backs.
Roush said: “Thomson Reuters overall is still trying to determine what it is. They are still not fully integrated as a company.”
Most of the redundancies were at managerial level, with Peter Bohan, editor of Reuters America Service, among those affected. Brad Dorfman, Reuters’s U.S. retail and consumer products company news editor, and Lee Aitken, who had been in charge of political coverage, have also been let go from the company.