The best thing about Reuters

As the date - Monday 1 October - approaches for the end of Thomson Reuters financial and risk business and its rebrand as Refinitiv, Reuters people past and present are looking back with fond memories.

On the Facebook group Reuters Old Colleagues & Friends, reminiscences have been triggered by the change of ownership of the old Reuters terminals and data business acquired by the Thomson organisation ten years ago which is now falling under the control of private equity giant Blackstone.

The Reuters name will live on as Reuters News which will remain part of Thomson Reuters.

Ian Martin, executive director at Morgan Stanley in London, started it all with a tribute “to mark the end of ‘Reuters’, as I, and many, knew it - the split of News and Financial Services.”

He joined Reuters in 1997 “in the heady dot-com days” and says he learnt a lot. “Now, in my post Reuters days, there is rarely a day that goes by without me mentally thanking Reuters for what I learnt. It set me up for the rest of my career. The greatest lesson I learnt was that really the thing that matters the most is the people - what kept the lights on at Reuters was not the infrastructure, the name, the corporate freebies but the people who cared about the service they delivered.”

Martin's Facebook post resonated with a lot of Reuters people. Here is an edited selection of their comments:

• I started in 1990 and it was probably the best experience of my life… Loved every minute of it and set me up for my life in NYC - Neil Foster
• It was a great place to work. Where I learned team work (1969-90). So it’s now the end. So sad. Such a great company back then - Geoffrey Fitch
• Great people, great memories of 22 years at Reuters (1980 to 2002)! Never had a boring day in all those years!! - Nancy Newbert
• I started in the Singapore office in 2002 to 2004, then the Sydney office from 2004 to 2007 then back in Singapore 2007 till now… Totally agree its the people that matters most… - Sharon Dias-Desmond
• Best job I had in my career. Started in 97, made redundant after 9/11. Some of my besties are ex-colleagues - Terri Lo
• Did 20 years then took redundancy. Worked with the best people over those years - I still miss it - Karen Saye
• It was unquestionably the best fourteen working years of my life - working for a company that really valued and rewarded staff endeavour; alongside some of the finest people on the planet - Frankie Callaghan
• They were the best working days of my life. Now nearing 77 and still living the dream, mainly thanks to The Baron! - Dave N Lek
• The best thing about Reuters for me was the friends I made - Penny MacRae
• Reuters was a great place to work and if not for the merger think I’d still be there - Jim Beyel
• The best career I could ever dream of having. It took me around the world and introduced me to some of the finest people I have ever worked with and still hold dear as friends today - Don York
• I "matriculated" at Reuters from 1987-2000, and I use that word with a purpose, since I always felt in those 13 marvellous years like a lucky student at a fine university. The people I met and worked with and learned from had much to do with this feeling. It was a great experience during a phase of great evolution and discovery at Reuters. I feel fortunate to have been there in that time and to have been even a small part of a great thing - Bob Crooke
• The education was remarkable thanks to the openness and generosity of Reuters people who brought me along in so many disciplines. Many friendships carry on and the family spark is right there whenever we connect - Mike Reilly
• One of the two best jobs I ever had, especially proudly working for a company - and a name - I respected - Marni Julien
• Best job I ever had. Was there from 1993-2016. Made a load of friends and there was always fun to be had. Then Thomson took over. That was the demise of the family - Richard Shanahan
• It was sad when the merger took place; this is even sadder. The other thing I have noted is you’ll always find an ex Reuters colleague everywhere you go in financial services - Samantha Cooper
• I agree with the sentiment from all responses here. It was a great job. Still many of my best friends are ex Reuters colleagues all these years later. I was there from 86 to 2001. I left when it started to go a bit sour. I have SO many fun memories of working there. Great people. Great job. Well done Reuters. You gave me my career and much much more - Phil McDermott
• Over 23 years learned so much in so many places, each with its own high-cruising altitude of professionalism: in Editorial (‘83-‘93), Marketing for .R and Reuters Magazine (’93-2000), Sales comms (‘00-‘02) and internal comms (’02-’06), in nyk, hkg and lon - top notch dedication, exhilarating and creative, conscientious and disciplined. Bless every one of you across a great legacy - Paul Mindus
• Yes… we were a family, amazing times and memories that will never be forgotten, we all learnt a lot from Reuters for which no doubt we will always grateful, but the people is what made Reuters a great organisation, we were not treated as numbers but part of the family, my thanks to you all being part of the journey that started in 1986 - Rosa Da Silva
• I came in 2 years before the merger and left just afterward. I count Reuters as one of the best professional memories I had and my former colleagues among some of the best professional friendships I still have. Sadly, the organization wasn't going to be the same post-merger and I've been through enough to know that the organization you liked will change. But glad to see that the relationships will always remain - Andrew Buck
• I started at Reuters aged 15 and started as a messenger boy and left 40 years later as a Technical Service Manager. I think that explains how much I loved working at Reuters - Alan Blake.