We have the Events Working Group attending the board meeting this evening. As the Association membership accelerates, we want to continue to drive engagement across both working groups and members. Events will be a key part of delivering this.
There is the potential to complement the current project presentations with more discussion-style events. The announcement of the Code of Conduct offers a good opportunity for a more discussion-oriented event and will lead on to the next revision of the code. We will invite KPMG to present to the board in the near future on the origin of the two new working groups around tax and cybersecurity and events can be dedicated to these new topics.
We went on to discuss a number of other organizations that should be invited to participate in events including the current top cryptocurrencies, incumbent financial services providers, local universities and others, as well as key topics such as Lightning Networks, AI, Quantum Computing and more. This will complement the new Coders meetup group and Blockchain 4 Good group. We also discussed opportunities for increasing the number of women involved in the organization and the collaboration with other associations in the Zug/Zurich region that combine Women and Tech topics. Nicolas provided an update on the progress in the Romandie region and the growing number of requests there, while Gianni is preparing for the first Southern Alps meetup for 8th February and is actively looking at connections with Milan.
We discussed the opportunity to have a physical presence at the 2018 consensus conference in New York. We elected to take the basic booth package and the Comms team will be reaching out to our members to determine interest in joining us in having presence at the booth. Members will be asked to pay a small fee to participate. If you are interested, reach out to comms@cryptovalley.swiss.
The Crypto Valley Conference preparation is progressing well. We have three satellite events organized and an increasing number of sponsors. We have also welcomed MIT as an academic partner which completes a long list of ivy-league universities actively engaged.
We also discussed the Supporting Partner requirements and will be creating a more formal application process and a members-only website page that displays the supporting partner offers to our members.
We finished by discussing the applicants for the role of Executive Manager. We will be making a formal offer in due course.
Attendees: Oliver, Vasiliy, Gianni, Rene, Sam, Suzi, Diane, Reto, Soren, Nicolas (by phone)
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Financial information is king and Thomson Reuters Corporation holds the crown. The company is the market leader in financial data (ahead of rival information provider Bloomberg). Thomson Reuters provides electronic information and services to businesses and professionals worldwide, serving the financial services, media, legal, tax and accounting, and science markets. Data is primarily offered online, and to a lesser extent via CD-ROM and print formats; nearly all revenues come from subscription sales to its plethora of offerings. Thomson Reuters was created in 2008 as the result of the $16 billion cash and stock purchase of news service Reuters by information provider The Thomson Corporation.
Operations
The company is organized into four business units. Its Financial & Risk segment accounted for more than 50% of total net sales in fiscal 2014. The segment provides news, information, and analytics to financial institutions.
The company's Legal segment provides online and print information, decision tools, software, and services that support legal, investigation, business, and government professionals. The Legal unit accounted for more than 25% of total net sales in fiscal 2014.
Thomson Reuters' Tax & Accounting segment offers integrated tax compliance and accounting information, software, and services to accounting firms, corporations, law firms, and governments. The unit accounted for 11% of total net sales in fiscal 2014.
The company's Intellectual Property & Science segment provides comprehensive intellectual property and scientific information, decision support tools, and services to governments, academia, publishers, corporations, and law firms. The Intellectual Property & Science unit accounted for 8% of total net sales in fiscal 2014.
Geographic Reach
Thomson Reuters has a truly global scale indeed. The company operates in more than 100 countries, and more than 40% of revenues come from outside the Americas. The business has US offices in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, and Texas, and international offices in London and Bangalore, India.
Sales and Marketing
Thomson Reuters sells its products and services directly to its customers. In addition, it has been successful in selling some of its products and services online directly to customers. Focusing some of the marketing and sales efforts online has allowed it to broaden the range of customers and reduce sales and marketing costs.
Financial Performance
In fiscal 2014 Thomson Reuters' revenue was $12.6 billion. That was a decrease of $95 million compared to fiscal 2013. The primary reason for the drop was decreased sales from the company's Financial & Risk unit partially offset by increased sales from the Tax & Accounting segment.
The company's net income was $1.9 billion in fiscal 2014. That was a dramatic increase compared to the previous fiscal period. The primary reason was due to decreased operating expenses.
Thomson Reuters ended fiscal 2014 with $2.3 billion in cash on hand from operations. That was an increase of $263 million compared to the prior fiscal year.
Strategy
The company's growth strategy mainly involves developing new products, services, applications, and functionalities to better meet its customers' needs.
