Last stop on the FOBM blogging trail today is some
commentary on an interview with Devin
Wenig, Reuters COO.

When asked about the
Thomson/Reuters merger, Devin’s first stop was culture.

“The number one priority is that when these two
large companies come together they’re one company not two – one business one
culture.”

While I commend him on that goal, he went on to
say that Thomson is “not taking Reuters off a successful course” but helping to
accelerate their current course.

“I don’t think we would have gone into this if we
thought it was going to radically change what we’re doing.”

I’m certainly no expert on Reuters and Thomson,
but I can’t imagine that a merger of this magnitude (impacting billions of
dollars and tens of thousands of people) isn’t going to change what Reuters is
doing – perhaps radically.

How many of Reuters’ activities are dependent upon
their culture? If merging cultures is
such a high priority, there may very well be more impact than Devin is
anticipating.

This is going to be interesting to watch!