Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) have announced plans to cut 2,000 jobs from its global workforce and take a fourth-quarter charge of $250 million to streamline its financial news and data business.
The cuts will affect about four percent of worldwide employees across 39 countries and 150 locations, mainly affecting the company’s financial and risk business and its enterprise, technology and operations group, the news and information company said.
“It’s about simplification and taking out bureaucracy and taking out layers all of which have added complexity and slowed us down,” said Jim Smith, chief executive of Thomson Reuters.
“These actions are not driven by any reaction to market conditions or in any way coming on the back of underperformance.”
“We are taking these actions now because we see a real opportunity to break down internal silos, position ourselves closer to customers and become more agile,” said Smith in an email sent to staff as the company reported its third quarter results on Tuesday.
Reuters said on Tuesday that the charges incurred from the cuts would largely come from two sectors: financial and risk, and the enterprise, technology and operations group that was created in January 2016. A spokesperson from the company has said “We do not expect any impact on headcount in the newsroom.”
“Our core subscription businesses are moving in the right direction, our cost controls are working and we are increasingly confident in our execution capability,” said Smith. “That is why we are going to pick up the pace of our transformation efforts.”
Reuters reported that revenues at the company fell 1 percent year-on-year to $73 million in the three months to the end of September. The operation reported a $61 million loss for the quarter, up from $51 million at the same time last year.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of 47 cents and revenue of $2.75 billion.