Thomson Reuters Names Former Nielsen Executive as CEO

By Dave Sebastian 

Thomson Reuters Corp. has named former Nielsen Holdings PLC President and Chief Operating Officer Steve Hasker as its chief executive and president and Mike Eastwood as its finance chief, among other management changes effective March 15.

Mr. Hasker will succeed Jim Smith, who will become the chairman of Thomson Reuters Foundation, the media company's charitable arm, it said Tuesday. The company said Mr. Smith will help Mr. Hasker transition into his new role into 2021.

After working at Nielsen, Mr. Hasker served as chief executive of the talent agency CAA Global and later as senior adviser to TPG Capital.

Thomson Reuters also said it has tapped Mike Eastwood, the company's senior vice president and head of corporate finance, as finance chief. He will succeed Stephane Bello, who will become vice chairman of Thomson Reuters.

Mr. Bello will oversee the company's investment in the Refinitiv financial-information and terminal business, which is expected to be sold later this year to London Stock Exchange Group PLC for nearly $15 billion.

Mr. Bello will stay with the company to help Mr. Eastwood transition into his new role into 2021, the company said. Mr. Eastwood has been with the company for more than two decades, serving in senior roles such as chief operating officer of Thomson Reuters Latin America.

Under Mr. Smith's tenure as CEO, the company sold its majority stake in its financial and risk unit for $17 billion to a group led by Blackstone Group LP in 2018. The business unit struggled to generate revenue growth over the years, hurt by cutbacks in spending by banks forced to contend with the fallout from the credit crisis.

Separately on Tuesday, the company reported higher sales and better-than-expected adjusted earnings for the fourth quarter.

Thomson Reuters competes in some businesses with Dow Jones & Co., a unit of News Corp and publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 25, 2020 08:26 ET (13:26 GMT)

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