Thomson Reuters PK Bloomberg

Those who believe that the news business is declining should go to the news agency. Bloomberg, a private-owned company, will hire 950 more employees, of which 100 are journalists, expanding by nearly 10%. News Corp is cutting its position in the Wall Street Journal, but has been hired by Dow Jones (Dow Jones) News Agency. This kind of recruitment boom is not just about showing off courage. Although newspaper groups such as The New York Times and independent news and media have to survive, news agencies are booming. For example, the shares of Thomson Reuters, a London-based Information Group, are currently at the same level as in August, when the merger between Reuters and Thomson was just completed. Since then, the FTSE Index has fallen by 35%.

Due to the technological revolution, theoretically, news agencies can sell their services to consumers directly through the Internet or mobile applications, rather than simply selling news and data in wholesale markets. However, due to the lack of advertising, this "retail mechanism" to replace wholesale revenue has been struggling in the past.

A bigger problem lies in the banking crisis. Peter grauer, Chairman of Bloomberg, believes that the financial services industry will cut spending by 20% this year. This contraction will repeat the fierce network downturn, When Bloomberg defeated one of the dual oligarchy and its financial information competitor Reuters. This time, Reuters's odds may be even greater. It is impossible for Bloomberg to count on hedge funds that recruited early in this century to clean up the mess. Bloomberg has an advantage in the fixed-income sector, but this is not the best sector; Reuters is better at foreign currency and commodities. In addition, Thomson Reuters's legal and medical information is even more icing on the cake. Bloomberg's main "one-stop" business model (leasing terminal servers at $1590 per month) depends on the quantity. Due to the cost savings brought by mergers and acquisitions, Thomson Reuters's expected price-to-earnings ratio was 15 times, at a 32% higher than its interbank premium. Bad news can only wait for news agencies with such high valuation.