Reuters
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Reuters (pronounced IPA: ) is a company supplying global financial markets and news media with a range of information products and transactional solutions, including real-time and historical market data, research and analytics, financial trading platforms, investment data and analytics plus news in text, video, graphics and photographs.
The company was founded by Paul Julius Reuter, a pioneer of telegraphy services. In 1940, there was a Hollywood film about Reuter: A Dispatch from Reuters. Edward G. Robinson played the German-Jewish immigrant to London who as early as 1851 began transmitting stock-market quotes between Paris and London via the new Calais-Dover telegraph cable.
Reuter's agency built a reputation in Europe for being the first to report scoops from abroad, like the news of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Today, almost every major news outlet in the world subscribes to Reuters. It operates in 200 cities in 94 countries, supplying text in 19 languages.
Reuters was floated as a public company in 1984 on the London Stock Exchange and on NASDAQ in the US.
Reuters continued to grow rapidly, widening the range of its business products and expanding its global reporting network for media, financial and economic services. Recent key product launches include Equities 2000 (1987), Dealing 2000-2 (1992), Business Briefing (1994), Reuters Television for the financial markets (1994), 3000 Series (1996) and the Reuters 3000 Xtra service (1999).
In the mid-1990s the company had a brief foray into the radio sector with London Radio's two stations, London News 97.3 FM and London News Talk 1152 AM, which replaced LBC in 1994. A Reuters Radio News service was also set up to compete with Independent Radio News.
In 1995, Reuters established its ‘Greenhouse Fund’ to take minority investments in a range of start-up technology companies, initially in the United States.
Notable investments included:
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TIBCO Software
In July 1999 TIBCO completed an IPO on NASDAQ; Reuters retains a substantial proportion of the shares. Reuters announced in early 2000 a range of major initiatives designed to accelerate its use of internet technologies, open new markets and migrate its core business to an internet-based model.
Instinet
In May 2001 Instinet completed an IPO on NASDAQ; Reuters retains the majority of the shares.
Bridge Information Systems
On September 28 2001, completed the largest acquisition in its history acquired certain businesses and assets of Bridge Information Systems Inc. Also during the year, the Group acquired 100% of Diagram fip SA and 92% of ProTrader Group LP. In October 2001, the Group disposed of its majority stake in VentureOne Corp.
Multex.com Inc
In March 2003, Reuters acquired Multex.com, Inc., a provider of global financial information.
Allegations of bias
Reuters has asserted adherence to principles of journalistic integrity ([1] (http://about.reuters.com/aboutus/editorial/)). However the organization has been accused by American right-wing and conservative members of left-wing or liberal bias.
In other countries Reuters has been accused of being pro-British or pro-American.
External links
- Reuters's official website (http://www.reuters.com/)
- History of Reuters (http://about.reuters.com/aboutus/history/), from its official website
- About Reuters (http://about.reuters.com/), from its official website
- Yahoo! - Reuters Group PLC Company Profile (http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/41/41832.html)de:Reuters