Thomson Reuters Drops High Profile Albeit Marginal Titles

Thomson Reuters is quietly moving out of smaller businesses that do not have opportunities for significant revenue growth. It has really been only a matter of time.

The titles in question are well known in the Canadian legal publishing community for quality content but just don’t cut it from the perspective of the Thomson business model and its expectations of significant growth in the top and bottom line. As of April 1, HAB Press acquired the Lexpert, Canadian Lawyer, Canadian Lawyer InHouse, Canadian Law List, Law Times, Canadian HR Reporter and Canadian Occupational Safety media brands, including the digital, print, event and directory assets, formerly produced by Thomson Reuters Media Solutions.

Just possibly a soft landing

HAB Press claims to be part of leading international b2b media company Key Media (www.keymedia.com). To quote from its own promotional material, “Key Media began life in the early 2000s, publishing a single B2B magazine with four employees in just one office. Fast-forward to the present day and Key Media is one of the leading niche publishing companies in the world, with 200 staff across eight offices – in Sydney, Auckland, Singapore, Manila, Denver, London, Bangalore and Toronto….(Key Media) delivers world-class content via multiple platforms – online to a combined audience of over 2.5 million unique visitors per month, through the pages of the 130 magazines it publishes per year, and face-to-face at its 70+ annual events enjoyed by thousands of key industry players.”

Key Media also claims to pride itself on an entrepreneurialism, innovativeness, agility and perceptiveness that allows it to react to the needs of its niche audiences quickly and precisely. These were the same qualities possessed by the founders of these Canadian titles when they were launched in the mid 70’s. If that is in fact the case, they may have found themselves in the hands of an owner who understands their potential and the contribution they make to the practice of law in Canada.