Financial News Rivals OK Deal

British news agency Reuters and its arch-rival Dow Jones are in a pact that will allow Reuters clients to receive news feeds from Dow Jones in most markets worldwide.

The agreement between these two arch-rival news providers comes amid a worldwide economic downturn that has pressured media companies to find ways to offset declining advertising sales. Dow Jones just last week that its third-quarter earnings will trail the average estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call.

Prior to Wednesday's agreement, a limited portion of the Dow Jones Newswires was available to Reuters customers in North America only.

London-based Reuters supplies more than 58,000 business and media clients with real-time news, financial data, and transaction and database systems. Dow Jones Newswires, headquartered in New York, delivers news on more than 285,000 screens - about 35,000 of them Reuters screens.

"This agreement creates a great convergence in the world of financial markets news," Reuters chief Peter Job said in a statement. "We believe our customers will relish the ability to view the Dow Jones and Reuters services seamlessly integrated. We are very pleased to be able to work closely with Dow Jones."

Peter Kann, chairman and chief executive officer of Dow Jones, said: "Reuters is the world's largest distributor of real-time financial data. We're very pleased to be able to make Dow Jones Newswires much more widely available to Reuters customers on a global basis."

U.S.-listed shares of Reuters (RTRSY) rose 7/16 to 44 3/16 in recent trading, while Dow Jones (DJ) rose 1/4 to 44 7/16.

Written By David B. Wilkerson