Reuters is to split its operations and technology division under a shake-up that will mark the departure of long-serving chief technology officer Mike Sayers.
The plans to break up the unit were advanced by Sayers and signalled to staff by chief executive Tom Glocer earlier this month. Under the restructuring, responsibility for operations will be re-assigned to Chris Hagman, managing director of global sales channels. Devin Wenig, president of the customer segments unit, will take on responsibility for technology developments.
The shake up is intended to simplify reporting lines and speed up product development in line with CEO Glocer's Fast Forward business transformation programme. In an intemperate e-mail to staff in September, Glocer cautioned that delayed product launches and technical failures were damaging the firm's reputation.
Sayers, a 28-year veteran of Reuters, will retire from the business at the end of the year. News of Sayers' impending departure comes hard on the heels of the resignation of Herbie Skeete, another Reuters' old-timer who had been fighting a race discrimination case against his fomer employers. Skeete, who was responsible for global equities and exchange data, quit at the turn of the year after apparently settling the case out of court.
Skeete and Sayers both belong to Reuters' old school and their removal from the business is symbolic of a larger cultural revolution at the firm.