Thomson Corporation
The Thomson Corporation was one of the world's largest information companies. It was established in 1989 following a merger between International Thomson Organization and Thomson Newspapers.[1] In 2008, it purchased Reuters Group to form Thomson Reuters. The Thomson Corporation was active in financial services, healthcare sectors, law, science and technology research, as well as tax and accounting sectors. The company operated through five segments (2007 onwards): Thomson Financial, Thomson Healthcare, Thomson Legal, Thomson Scientific and Thomson Tax & Accounting.
This article is about Thomson prior to its merger with Reuters Group. For the current company, see Thomson Reuters. For other companies called Thomson, see Thomson (disambiguation).Company type
International Thomson Organization
Thomson Newspapers
1989[1]
April 17, 2008
Merger with Reuters Group
Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.
David Thomson (Chairman)
Books, publishing
US$1.120 billion (2006)
38,000
Thomson Financial
Thomson Scientific
Thomson Tax & Accounting
Thomson Healthcare
Thomson Legal
Thomson Learning (until 2007)
Until 2007, Thomson was also a major worldwide provider of higher education textbooks, academic information solutions and reference materials. On 26 October 2006, Thomson announced the proposed sale of its Thomson Learning assets. In May 2007, Thomson Learning was acquired by Apax Partners and subsequently renamed Cengage Learning in July. The Thomson Learning brand was used to the end of August 2007.[3]
Subsequently, on 15 October 2007, Educational Testing Service (ETS) finalized acquisition of Thomson's Prometric. Thomson sold its global network of testing centres in 135 countries, for a reported $435 million. Prometric now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of ETS.[4]
On 15 May 2007, the Thomson Corporation reached an agreement with Reuters to combine the two companies, a deal valued at $17.2 billion. On 17 April 2008, the new company was created under the name of Thomson Reuters. The chief executive officer of Thomson Reuters is Jim Smith, and the chairman is David Thomson, formerly of the Thomson Corporation. Although it was officially a Canadian company and remained Canadian owned, Thomson was run from its operational headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, in the United States.
Brands[edit]
Some of Thomson's brands are better known than the company name itself. Its brands include Thomson ONE, Westlaw, FindLaw, BARBRI, Pangea3, Physician's Desk Reference (now published digitally as the Prescriber's Digital Reference), RIA, Thomson Tax and Accounting (tax and accounting software and services for accountants), Creative Solutions, Quickfinder, DISEASEDEX (now merged with IBM Watson Health), DrugREAX, Medstat, Thomson First Call (now a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group, known as Refinitiv), Checkpoint, EndNote (now produced by Clarivate, an independent company), Derwent World Patents Index (now produced by Clarivate), SAEGIS (now produced by Clarivate), MicroPatent, Aureka (now owned by Clarivate), Faxpat, OptiPat, Just Files, Faxpat, OptiPat, Just Files, Corporate Intelligence, InfoTrac (now owned by Cengage), Delphion, Arco Test Prep (now owned by Cengage), Peterson's Directories (now owned by Cengage), NewsEdge, TradeWeb, Web of Science (now produced by Clarivate) and the Arden Shakespeare (now published by Bloomsbury Publishing). Thomson formerly owned Jane's Information Group, now owned by Montagu Private Equity. These information sources are produced by the many companies of Thomson, including West Publishing, Thomson Financial, ISI (now owned by Clarivate), Thomson Gale (now owned by Cengage), Dialog Corporation (now owned by Clarivate), Brookers, Carswell, CCBN, Course Technology (now owned by Cengage), Gardiner-Caldwell, IHI, Lawbook Co, Wadsworth (now owned by Cengage), Thomson CompuMark (now owned by Clarivate) and Sweet & Maxwell.
Thomson Reuters New Zealand Limited has been publishing and updating information on New Zealand law since 1910, formerly as John Friend Ltd, to Brooker and Friend Ltd, to Brookers, to Thomson Brookers'.[22]
Thomson had divested many of its traditional media assets – or combined them with digital products – and had moved toward a larger reliance on information technology services and products.
Restatements[edit]
On 1 January 2004, Thomson adopted a new accounting standard, which required restatement of all prior periods. The company restated its financial reports accordingly.
Corporate governance[edit]
Members of the last board of directors of Thomson were as follows: David K.R. Thomson (chairman of the board since 2002), W. Geoffrey Beattie, Richard Harrington, Ron D. Barbaro, Mary Cirillo, Robert Daleo, Steven Denning, Maureen Darkes, Roger Martin, Vance Opperman, John M. Thompson, Peter Thomson, Richard Thomson and John A. Tory.
The Thomson family owned 70% of the company.[12]
When Kenneth Thomson died in June 2006, control of the family fortune passed on to David K.R. Thomson under a plan put together decades earlier by company founder Roy Thomson.[12]
"David, my grandson, will have to take his part in the running of the organisation and David's son, too," Roy wrote in his 1975 autobiography. "With the fortune that we will leave to them go also responsibilities. These Thomson boys that come after Ken are not going to be able, even if they want to, to shrug off these responsibilities."[12]
The Thomson family controlled the Thomson Corporation through a family-owned entity, the Woodbridge Company, based in Toronto. (Along with 70% of Thomson Corporation, Woodbridge also owns a 40% stake in CTVglobemedia, which now owns the Globe and Mail daily newspaper in Toronto and CTV, Canada's largest commercial TV network.) David K.R. Thomson and his brother, Peter Thomson, became co-chairmen of Woodbridge after their father's death.[12]