Thomson Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Harrington speaks to shareholders in Toronto March 26, 2008. Thomson Corporation shareholders voted in favor of the company's multibillion-dollar takeover of Reuters Group PLC to create a new company, Thomson Reuters. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    OTTAWA, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Shareholders of Thomson Corp. voted Wednesday in favor of its takeover of Reuters Group PLC which is worth 17 billion Canadian dollars (17 billion U.S. dollars), Canadian Press reported.

    The vote was 99 percent in favor of the deal, the biggest in the history of the Canadian-based specialized data company.

Thomson Corporation Chairman David Thomson speaks to shareholders before they voted in favor of the company's multibillion-dollar takeover of Reuters Group PLC to create a new company, Thomson Reuters, in Toronto March 26, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Reuters shareholders were to vote on the deal at a separate meeting in London and are also expected to endorse the transaction.

    If approved, the new company will be called Thomson Reuters Corp. and will control more than a third of the world market for financial data.

    That puts Thomson in head-to-head competition with rival Bloomberg LP in selling data services and analytical and trading tools to Wall Street.

    David Thomson, the CEO of Thomson and grandson of founder Roy Thomson, will be chairman of the combined firm.

Thomson wins EU conditional approval to buy Reuters

    BRUSSELS, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Canadian publisher Thomson won conditional approval from the European Union (EU) on Tuesday to buy its British rival Reuters, a deal that could create the world's biggest financial information provider.

    The European Commission, the EU's antitrust watchdog, said in a statement that it cleared the proposed transaction after the two companies agreed to sell off some of their overlapping businesses in order to remove competition concerns. Full story

EU extends antitrust probe into Thomson's bid for Reuters

    BRUSSELS, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission extended its antitrust investigation into Canadian publisher Thomson's takeover bid for Reuters until March 10.

    The European Union's antitrust watchdog made the decision at the request of the two companies, but it gave no reason for the extension. Full story