Thomson Reuters news revenue up 2 percent

Organic revenue for Thomson Reuters’s news division grew 2 percent to $160 million in the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the company announced Tuesday.

The increase came mostly from the segment’s professional business, the company said.

The company’s news division is the second-smallest segment in the company, before its global printing business, which saw revenue drop 9 percent to $143 million.  

Most of the company’s revenues come from services and products in what it calls its “Big 3” business segments, the legal, corporate, and tax and accounting professionals units. Organic revenue for those three segments grew by 5 percent in the first quarter to $1.2 billion compared with the same quarter last year.

Overall organic revenue for the company grew 3 percent to $1.58 billion, and its overall operating first-quarter profit was $387 million. 

The company predicted news revenues to grow between 2 and 3 percent in the second quarter and said overall revenue for the second quarter will jump somewhere between 5.5 percent and 6.5 percent compared with 2020 second-quarter earnings that were depressed because of the pandemic. 

In mid-April, Reuters rolled out a new strategy that included a paywall for a revamped website and plans to attract customers via detailed coverage in specific content areas.

The company also also announced that global news editor Alessandra Galloni would take over as editor-in-chief, the first woman to hold that job in the company’s nearly 170-year history.