Thomson Reuters is to break up its gargantuan Markets and Professional divisions in favour of smaller and more focussed business units as part of a major restructuring of the company that has already seen the exit of a number of senior staffers.
The break-up of the troubled Markets division was signalled in July with the surprise ousting of Markets CEO Devin Wenig amid lacklustre sales to financial services clients.
Under the latest phase of the re-org, James Smith, currently CEO of the Professional division has been named COO of Thomson Reuters. The new role has been created in relation to the company's plans to abandon its current divisional structure and "transition to a set of focused business units".
Thomson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer says the changes will streamline the organisation and "enable us to work better across business units to achieve growth and capture operating efficiencies from scale. The professional markets in which we operate are marked by increasing collaboration among specialists and Thomson Reuters must operate with the speed and agility needed to serve these demanding professionals."
During the company's Q2 earnings call in July, Glocer outlined a two-step plan for Markets, based on a shake-up of sales roles and a repositioning of the product mix around the Eikon desktop and Elektron network. Details on the exact nature of this repositioning are not yet forthcoming.