Reuters Group

Aug 22, 2023

David Binet to step down from Thomson Reuters board David Binet is resigning from the board of Thomson Reuters Corp. in September after a decade as a director in which he helped oversee major changes at the data, software and news provider. Mr. Binet, 66, has told the board he plans to step down at the company’s next regularly scheduled board meeting, according to a company news release. No replacement has been named, and after he departs the Thomson Reuters board will have 13 members, one fewer than its current 14. A lawyer by training, Mr. Binet joined Woodbridge Co. Ltd., the Thomson family holding company and controlling shareholder of Thomson Reuters that also owns The Globe and Mail, in 1999. He became CEO of Woodbridge in 2013, joining the Thomson Reuters board the same year. “We have seen enormous change and growth in our business and are appreciative of all that David has done to help with those achievements,” said David Thomson, chairman of Thomson Reuters, in a statement. “He has been a valuable contributor to the Board, and we will miss him in that capacity.” When Mr. Binet joined the board, the company had been building out its core business lines serving financial and risk, legal, tax and accounting and corporate clients, often through acquisitions. It was also in a turnaround phase, streamlining its multi-faceted business after it acquired Reuters Group PLC for about US$17-billion in 2007, on the cusp of a global financial crisis. Then, in 2018, Thomson Reuters spun out its financial and risk division as a standalone company, selling a 55-per-cent stake to a consortium led by U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group Inc. The separate company, called Refinitiv, was then sold to the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) in a deal valued at US$27-billion including debt. Since then, Thomson Reuters emerged as a more streamlined company, and has begun investing heavily in artificial-intelligence tools to augment its software. It has also proven resilient against disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic and rapid interest rate increases. “I am excited about its future,” Mr. Binet said in a news release. Investors have rewarded the company for its steady revenue growth, with shares in Thomson Reuters up nearly 19 per cent over the last year on the Toronto Stock Exchange.