Thomson Corporation
Thomson Healthcare Thomson Legal Thomson Learning (until 2007) |
The Thomson Corporation was one of the world's largest information companies. It was established in 1989 following a merger between International Thomson Organization and Thomson Newspapers.[1] In 2008, it purchased Reuters Group to form Thomson Reuters. The Thomson Corporation was active in financial services, healthcare sectors, law, science and technology research, as well as tax and accounting sectors. The company operated through five segments (2007 onwards): Thomson Financial, Thomson Healthcare, Thomson Legal, Thomson Scientific and Thomson Tax & Accounting.
Until 2007, Thomson was also a major worldwide provider of higher education textbooks, academic information solutions and reference materials. On 26 October 2006, Thomson announced the proposed sale of its Thomson Learning assets. In May 2007, Thomson Learning was acquired by
Subsequently, on 15 October 2007, Educational Testing Service (ETS) finalized acquisition of Thomson's Prometric. Thomson sold its global network of testing centres in 135 countries, for a reported $435 million. Prometric now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of ETS.[4]
On 15 May 2007, the Thomson Corporation reached an agreement with Reuters to combine the two companies, a deal valued at $17.2 billion. On 17 April 2008, the new company was created under the name of Thomson Reuters. The chief executive officer of Thomson Reuters is Jim Smith, and the
History
The Thomson Corporation grew from a single Canadian newspaper, the Timmins Daily Press, acquired in 1934 by Roy Thomson (later to become 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet), into a global media concern. Thomson acquired his first non-Canadian newspaper, the Independent of St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1952. He was told by the UK Government that to qualify for a peerage, in keeping with other press barons in London, he would have to reside in the UK.[5] Accordingly, he moved to Edinburgh and invited newspaper owners to sell to him. In this expansion in the United Kingdom the first to come forward and be bought was The Scotsman in 1953. He had no experience of television but saw the profits it made in the US and successfully founded Scottish Television in 1957,[6] locating its headquarters and studios in the Theatre Royal, Glasgow.[7] He founded the Thomson Organization in 1959. In the 1960s, Thomson's UK publishing realm expanded to include Thomson Publication (UK), a consumer magazine and book publishing house, and The Times. In 1965, Thomson Newspapers, Ltd. was formed as a publicly traded company in Canada.
Roy Thomson's prolific endeavours in publishing earned him the hereditary title
When Kenneth Thomson took over from his father Roy in 1976, the company was worth about $500 million. At Kenneth's death in June 2006, the company was valued at about $29.3 billion.[12]
Transition to business information
In 1978, the acquisition of Wadsworth Publishing provided Thomson with its first entry into specialised information, college textbooks and professional books.
Starting in the mid-1990s, Thomson invested further in specialised information services (but this time providing them in digital format) and began selling off its newspapers. That was about the time Richard J. Harrington, an accountant, became chief executive officer of the company. One of the first moves came when Thomson spent $3.4 billion to acquire the
In recent years, Thomson provided much of the specialised information content the world's financial, legal, research and medical organizations rely on every day to make business-critical decisions and drive innovation. While it remained a publishing company, early and aggressive investment in electronic delivery had become a key company goal.[12] "Except for its educational division, which still publishes a substantial number of conventional textbooks, Thomson had the good fortune to move into these businesses as customers were demanding electronic delivery of their information", according to a 3 July 2006 article. "In some markets, Thomson was able to move past other players who were more cautious about digital conversion."[12]
In 2003, the Thomson Corporation bought the
In 2004, Thomson acquired
In 2005, Thomson acquired medical education company Physicians World.[20]
In October 2006, the company confirmed it would sell the Thomson Learning market group in three parts. The first part, corporate education and training (NETg), has agreed to be sold to
In 2007, Thomson sold Thomson Medical Education (including Physicians' World and Gardiner-Caldwell) to private equity firm ABRY Partners. The group was renamed KnowledgePoint360.[21]
Brands
Some of Thomson's brands are better known than the company name itself. Its brands include
Thomson had divested many of its traditional media assets – or combined them with digital products – and had moved toward a larger reliance on information technology services and products.[citation needed]
Restatements
On 1 January 2004, Thomson adopted a new accounting standard, which required restatement of all prior periods. The company restated its financial reports accordingly.[citation needed]
Corporate governance
Members of the last
The Thomson family owned 70% of the company.[12]
When Kenneth Thomson died in June 2006, control of the family fortune passed on to David K.R. Thomson under a plan put together decades earlier by company founder Roy Thomson.[12]
"David, my grandson, will have to take his part in the running of the organisation and David's son, too,"
The Thomson family controlled the Thomson Corporation through a family-owned entity,
References
- ^ a b The Thomson Corporation History. FundingUniverse.
- ^ "Thomson Reuters Corp". Google Finance. Retrieved 2007-05-08.
- ^ "Thomson Learning Announces New Name – CENGAGE Learning" (Press release). PRNewswire. 2007-07-24. Retrieved 2007-07-29.
- ^ "ETS Acquires Prometric" (Press release). ETS. 2007-10-15. Archived from the original on 2007-12-16. Retrieved 2008-04-18.
- ^ ″After I was Sixty″ by Lord Thomson of Fleet, published 1975
- ^ "History of The Thomson Corporation – FundingUniverse". www.fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 2018-02-21.
- ^ ″The Theatre Royal: Entertaining a Nation″ by Graeme Smith published in 2008
- ^ "The Thomson Corporation - Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on The Thomson Corporation". www.referenceforbusiness.com. Retrieved 2018-02-21.
- ^ Newspapers: Strength in the Afternoon, Time (magazine), September 8, 1967
- ^ "Speidel chain tries to block possible Thomson takeover". The Montreal Gazette. 12 Nov 1974. p. 34.
- ^ Collins, Joseph (1978-08-08). "Thomson base moving from Britain to Canada". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Austen, Ian (July 3, 2006). "In Canada, the Torch is Passed on a Quiet but Profitable Legacy". The New York Times (Business Day section) p. C1; accessed on July 3, 2006.
- ^ Thomson Learning press release
- ^ "Chilton Auto Parts, Chilton Repair Manuals for Sale". www.autopartswarehouse.com. Retrieved 2018-02-21.
- ^ "Thomson to acquire Elite Information". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. 2003-04-04. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
- ^ "Thomson Acquires Gardiner-Caldwell". 7 January 2002.
- ^ "Thomson sells health-care magazines". The Globe and Mail. 2003-08-25. Retrieved 2021-08-08.
- ^ "Thomson sells health-care magazines". The Globe and Mail. 25 August 2003.
- Risk. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
- ^ "Medical Economics Acquires Physicians World". 9 August 2005.
- ^ "KP360 looks to make big name in CME". June 2007.
- ^ "About Us". Thomson Reuters New Zealand. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
Further reading
- Goldenberg, Susan (1984). The Thomson Empire. ISBN 0825302595.
- Prochnau, William (October 1998). "In Lord Thomson's Realm". American Journalism Review. College Park, Maryland: University of Maryland Foundation.
External links
- Mary H. Munroe (2004). "Thomson Corporation Timeline". The Academic Publishing Industry: A Story of Merger and Acquisition. Archived from the original on 2020-08-09. Retrieved 2019-11-11 – via Northern Illinois University.