Thomson Sells Tax Prep, Outsourcing Businesses to Ernst & Young Deal Value Not Disclosed; 175 Employees to Join E&Y

Ben Fox Rubin for the Wall St Journal writes: Thomson Reuters Corp. TRI.T +0.18% sold its tax preparation and court accounting outsourcing businesses to accounting firm Ernst & Young, a move that comes as the data provider has worked to cut costs and re-evaluate its businesses.

"We are focused on delivering value to our customers and believe we can best execute through our software platform," said Brian Peccarelli, president of Thomson Reuters's tax and accounting business. "We have determined that an accounting and consulting organization like EY can better serve our customers' full-service outsourced tax preparation needs."

He said the company will continue to work closely with Ernst & Young.

About 175 employees will join Ernst & Young. The deal value wasn't disclosed.

Ernst & Young said the acquisition will help it to continue growing its outsourcing businesses, as it looks to expand its offerings to financial services organization and law firms.

Thomson Reuters's tax and accounting business will focus its resources on its core software and implementation services businesses. The software businesses of Onesource Trust Tax and Onesource Trust & Estate Administration will remain with Thomson Reuters's tax and accounting business.

Thomson Reuters's financial and risk division has suffered in recent years as big bank clients reduced head count. The company's Eikon financial desktop platform, launched in the wake of the financial crisis, has only recently shown signs of growth.

In October, the company said it would undergo a fresh review of its businesses, after it already had taken some steps to cut costs this year, launching plans to eliminate 2,500 jobs from its core financial and risk division in February.

Thomson Reuters competes with News Corp unit Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires on business news.