Thomson Reuters CEO stepping down

Thomson Reuters announced Thursday that chief executive Tom Glocer will step down at the end of the year and will be replaced by chief operating officer James Smith. The financial news and information company, which is incorporated in Canada and has its headquarters in New York, said that Glocer's retirement was part of a reorganization of top management. Glocer, who is 52, will also be giving up his seat as a director of Thomson Reuters on December 31, when he steps down as CEO, Thomson Reuters said. The Reuters news service was acquired by Canada's Thomson Corp. in 2008 and with Glocer's departure, Thomson Reuters is "effectively removing the last senior Reuters executive from the company's top echelon," Reuters said in a story about the management changes. "Tom will be remembered as the individual who turned around Reuters 10 years ago, led the company to growth and guided its sale to form Thomson Reuters," Thomson Reuters chairman David Thomson said in a statement. "Over the past four years, Tom successfully directed an extensive integration, expanded our business internationally, revitalized the Reuters news organization and championed talent across the entire business," he said. "We look forward to beginning the new year with a new management team, new organizational structure, and ever stronger commitment to deliver long-term, sustainable value for all shareholders," Thomson added. In a statement, Glocer said "by the end of this year, the organizational, strategy and budget work I have been leading will be complete, and the transition plan I launched last summer will have achieved its objectives. "Jim Smith is a very talented executive with whom I have worked closely over the past four years; he is ready to lead Thomson Reuters," he said. Smith, a former journalist, joined the Thomson Newspaper group in 1987 and served as head of the Professional division at Thomson Reuters before becoming chief operating officer. Thomson Reuters' Professional division provides legal, tax and accounting, health care and science products and has been performing better recently than the Markets division, which supplies financial and other products. Revenue in the Markets division, which accounts for more than half of the company's total revenue, increased five percent last quarter to $1.88 billion but by just one percent before currency adjustments. Professional division revenue rose 11 percent to $1.38 billion while revenue in the Media division was up five percent at $83 million.