Thomson Reuters Plans ‘Relentless’ Cost Cutting In Downturn, Still Optimistic
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Thomson Reuters (NASDAQ: TRIN) has promised to “relentlessly” cut costs as the global economy begins to bite its clients’ businesses and, with them, its own. Devin Wenig, CEO of the markets division that includes Reuters Media and Reuters.com, yesterday told staff, in a frank internal memo obtained by paidContent:UK: “Many of our big customers are struggling and there is talk of a global recession. We are in a period of unprecedented change that seems to be unfolding in real time… The changes we are witnessing are global and deep and this is very different to a cyclical downturn.”
SEE ALSO: Thomson Reuters on Hiring Freeze For Markets Division; Includes Media
Wenig admitted TR’s top 25 large accounts are under pressure. His solution? “The short-term tactical response to this tough market is that we will be relentless about costs, efficiency and challenging the status quo. I don’t apologise for that; every dollar we can drive out of things like travel, entertainment, research that no-one reads, information requests that are not critical and meetings that don’t need to happen, is another dollar we can invest in the critical sales, product, news or service initiatives that will really drive this firm forward.”
A spokesperson refuted to us reports elsewhere today that the memo adds up to further job cuts on top of the 650+ confirmed in May from merger “synergies”, saying the company is committed to saving $1.2 billion (£700 million) over the next three years. Wenig began a recruitment freeze last month. So no new numbers here: just a reminder that Wenig & Co. are taking no prisoners when it comes to cost saving in uncertain times...
—Not all bad news: Wenig struck a note of optimism – he said it was an “absolute certainty that global economies will recover” and that a growing global class of wealthy people would still need financial information and advice: “The environment may be deteriorating, but we have had several strong sales months and I believe we are winning share.” TR had just won major asset management deals in the US and its data feeds business is “growing nicely”, he said.
—Market volatility helps: While parts of TR’s business are under pressure, market volatility was helping its transaction businesses such as Treasury, Tradeweb, Omgeo and BETA while volatility was increasing demand for commodities and energies data. Wenig claimed September was the best month in the company’s entire history in foreign exchange.
—New products: As well as counting the pennies, Wenig promised “significant investments” including a “common technical platform” and new user offerings for web and mobile backed by a big marketing campaign. There will also be a “series of important initiatives in multimedia, commentary” and a new publishing/editing system.
—One example of a fightback: The company also said today it will sell advertising space on its giant Canary Wharf digital display, offering cross-media deals also encompassing web and mobile in a deal that sees the sign used more like Reuters’ Times Square displays. Reuters reckons 500,000 each week see the sign.
Posted In: Jobs & Layoffs, Companies, Reuters, devin wenig, layoffs, thomson reuters
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