Reuters has sacked its global head of news under a restructuring programme designed to integrate management of news and data services.
The overhaul, which involves the redundancies or redeployment of another dozen top editorial and management staff, marks the first hit on the company's editorial division under the Fast Forward cost-cutting programme introduced by CEO Tom Glocer earlier this year.
The restructuring entails the departure of Reuters' global head of news Stephen Jukes, the merger of news and data collection services in North America and the streamlining of regional reporting lines.
Seperately, Dow Jones Newswires, a competitor to Reuters in the delivery of real-time business and financial news, will launch Dow Jones NewsPlus Global Equities, a companion web site to its global equities news service, Financial Wire, this week.
Free to all direct subscribers to the Dow Jones Financial Wire in Europe, of which 50% are based at UK banks, investment houses and PR companies, Dow Jones NewsPlus Global Equities offers a constantly updated selection of the day's top news stories. It also highlights analysis and commentary and provides simple 'point and click' links to news on key sectors, topics and companies.
The European launch follows the unveiling of a similar site in North America earlier this year.
Michael Bergmeijer, vice president of international sales and marketing, Dow Jones Newswires, says: "The success of NewsPlus North American Equities has led us to accelerate the introduction of a NewsPlus companion web site for our European subscribers."