US financial information business Bloomberg is expanding its global 2300-strong news reporting team by more than 10% this year in a move designed to steal a march on rivals Reuters and Thomson Financial ahead of their proposed merger.
According to a Financial Times report Bloomberg plans to hire an additonal 240 reporters in 2007.
Matthew Winkler, head of Bloomberg News, told FT reporters that 180 new staff had already been hired this year and he plans to add at least another 60. This is in addition to the 2300 new staff employed at the company at the end of last year.
Winkler said news is an increasingly important driver of sales of Bloomberg's proprietary electronic desktop terminals, which are growing and remain particularly strong in Asia.
There are an estimated 250,000 Bloomberg terminals installed, says the FT report, and last year Bloomberg grew by an estimated 15%, compared with Reuters which expanded nine per cent and Thomson at five per cent.
News of Bloomberg's expansion comes as the privately-held company looks to steal a march on Reuters and Thomson which are pursuing a £8.8 billion merger. Following the proposed deal the Canadian vendor says it will combine its Thomson Financial unit with Reuters' financial and media businesses to form an entity called 'Reuters'.