International Thomson Organization
International Thomson Organization was a development of the commercial empire founded by Lord Thomson of Fleet (Roy Thomson). It is a company incorporated in Ontario, Canada, and which operates primarily in North America and the UK. Its principal current interests in the UK lie in the fields of specialized information and publishing, leisure travel, educational books and newspaper publishing. Thus it owns a number of businesses concerned with legal, professional and commercial publishing and information.
1953 Roy Thomson first acquired interests in the UK when he purchased The Scotsman
1959 He acquired The Sunday Times and regional newspaper operations in Aberdeen, Middlesbrough, Blackburn, Sheffield, Manchester, Cardiff and Newcastle.
1961 He purchased the Belfast Telegraph.
1965 Acquired the Chester Chronicle and Associated Newspapers Limited. Launched the (Reading) Evening Post as the first of a chain of outer-metropolitan newspapers surrounding London.
1966 Acquired The Times.
1967 Other outer-metropolitan newspapers were launched: the Watford Echo, the Luton Post, and the Evening Mail in Slough (subsequently disposed of).
1978 The International Thomson Organization was formed as a holding company for the Thomson interests in publishing, travel, and natural resources.
1981 After a long industrial dispute, The Times and The Sunday Times were sold to News International
1983 The Watford Echo and the Luton Post were closed.
1987 Acquired Associated Book Publishers
1989 With Thomson Newspapers the International Thomson Organization became the Thomson Corporation, which includes Janes Information Group focused on disseminating information, especially military intelligence.
1988/89 Purchased several groups of free newspapers, based in Luton, Northampton, Derby, Peterborough and Bishop's Stortford, to form Thomson Free Newspapers. Three regional Sunday titles were also launched: Scotland on Sunday, Wales on Sunday and Sunday Life (Belfast).
1991 Exchanged the Blackburn operation for a number of Reed Regional Newspapers' free weekly titles in the north-east of England.
1993 Sold the papers published by Thomson Free Newspapers, except those in Luton.
1994 The (Reading) Evening Post was sold.
1995 The Luton titles were sold to EMAP Newspapers Limited
By 1995 the Corporation owned Sweet & Maxwell (law publishers), Derwent Publications (patent abstracts) and Janes (defence publishers). The Thomson Travel Group included businesses such as Thomson Tour Operations, Britannia Airways and Lunn Poly. Regional newspapers included Western Mail & Echo, The Chester Chronicle and Associated Newspapers, Belfast Telegraph Newspapers, Newcastle Chronicle & Journal and North Eastern Evening Gazette[1].
2008 Thomson Corporation purchased Reuters Group on 17 April to form Thomson Reuters Corporation.