Thomson: from small-town newspapers to global data

By Wojtek Dabrowski

TORONTO (Reuters) - Thomson Corp. TOC.TO TOC.N, the electronic publisher rumoured as a potential bidder for financial data and news company Reuters Group Plc RTR.L RTRSY.O, has been no stranger to acquisitions since its founding family bought its first newspaper in small-town Canada in the 1930s.

From their roots as newspaper proprietors, dealmaking has been the bread and butter of the Thomsons. The family has been involved in everything from publishing textbooks and newspapers, including the Times of London, to running television stations and travel companies.

It even dabbled in oil exploration at one time.

In the process, the Thomsons have become one of the wealthiest families in the world, with a net worth estimated at $22 billion by Forbes magazine. The family still holds 70 percent of Thomson Corp.'s shares, through their investment company Woodbridge Co. Ltd..

Today, the company has moved away from paper publishing and is known for its sprawling electronic data operations. It provides software, information and other applications for professionals in law, finance, health care, and science and is selling its education division for an estimated $5 billion.

It had 2006 revenues of $6.6 billion and about 32,000 employees with operations in 37 countries.

What started with the 1934 purchase of The Timmins Press in northern Ontario by Roy Thomson -- the grandfather of present chairman David Thomson -- has grown into a publicly traded giant with a market capitalisation of $28 billion.

Firmly a newspaper and TV company throughout the 1940s and '50s, Thomson branched out into tour travel in Britain in 1965. Then, in 1971, it joined a consortium to explore for oil and gas in the North Sea.