Thomson Reuters to cut 2,000 jobs, take 4th-quarter charge

By Jessica Toonkel

(Reuters) - Thomson Reuters Corp said on Tuesday it would cut about 2,000 jobs worldwide, about 4 percent of its workforce, and take a fourth-quarter charge of $200 million to $250 million to streamline its business.

The restructuring across 39 countries and 150 locations would mainly affect the Financial & Risk business and the Enterprise, Technology & Operations Group, the news and information company said.

The company employs about 48,000 people globally, a spokesman said.

Thomson Reuters shares gained about 4 percent in early trading in both New York and Toronto.

The changes come as part of its multi-year effort to streamline its businesses, said Jim Smith, chief executive, in an interview Tuesday.

"It's about simplification and taking out bureaucracy and taking out layers all of which have added complexity and slowed us down," he said. "These actions are not driven by any reaction to market conditions or in any way coming on the back of underperformance."

Thomson Reuters is the parent of Reuters News, which competes for financial customers with Bloomberg LP as well as News Corp's Dow Jones unit. There will be no decline in headcount in the Reuters newsroom, according to a memo to employees on Tuesday.

The company reported slightly lower third-quarter net earnings. Net income was $286 million or 36 cents per share, compared with $293 million or 36 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding special items, earnings were 54 cents per share. Analysts on average expected 47 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S/.

Revenue rose 1 percent to $2.74 billion before currency effects and was flat when they were factored in. The company reiterated its forecast of 2 percent to 3 percent revenue growth for the year.

In the Financial & Risk segment, which provides news and analytics to financial services companies, sales outpaced cancellations for the 10th straight quarter. Overall unit revenue was flat at $1.52 billion.

Because of the charge, the company lowered its 2016 forecast for underlying operating profit margin to between 16 percent to 17 percent, from 18.4 to 19.4 percent.

(Reporting by Jessica Toonkel; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Nick Zieminski)