Reuters buys finance site in 13m deal
THOMSON Reuters consolidated its expansion into the opinion business yesterday as it acquired the financial commentary business Breakingviews.
Breakingviews was founded 10 years ago by Hugo Dixon, a former Financial Times journalist, who will make £2.6m from the deal.
Dixon was backed by a number of well known City figures, including Roland Rudd, the Finsbury founder, Stephen Hester, the chief executive of RBS, Lord Marland, the former Tory party treasurer and Sir Nigel Rudd, the founder of 1980s conglomerate Williams Holdings.
Breakingviews is loss-making, partly due to its recent ambitious expansion in the US, but in a short time it has established a strong reputation for financial analysis.
Thomson Reuters declined to give any details on the purchase price but sources said it was close to £13m. The offer has been accepted by Breakingviews’ directors, who are unanimously recommending it to the shareholders.
Thomson Reuters will operate its commentary offering under the Breakingviews brand, leaving the group able to make a distinction between its news service and commentary offering.
Thomson Reuters last year set up its own commentary service under the leadership of Jonathan Ford, one of Breakingviews’ founders. He left Breakingviews after a falling out with Dixon and, unsurprisingly, he will not be part of the new set-up.
A spokeswoman for Reuters Thomson said last night that the group was trying to find another position “that would be suitable for Jonathan Ford.” “We hope to keep him,” she said.