Business Case Studies,Corporate Governance & Business Ethics Case Study, Flour Corp's Business Ethics Practices: Creating Six Sigma Standards in Staying Corruption-Free

Code : GOV0021

Year : 2005

Industry : Internet and e-commerce

Region : UK

Teaching Note: Not Available

Structured Assignment : Not Available

<< Previous

Introduction: In 1849, Paul Julius Reuter, aGerman news correspondent, started sending stockmarket quotations and news using pigeons betweenAachen, Germany and Brussels, Belgium. He sent the information within two hours, beating the railroad time by six hours. In 1851 hemoved to London and formed Reuters, as a news agency, to transmit stock quotes between Paris and London through telegraph.1 By 1858, Reuters had opened offices across Europe and earned reputation for speed, accuracy and impartiality. Eventually, Reuters extended its service to the entire Britishmedia andmedia of other European countries. It also expanded its news content to include general and economic news from across the world. Reuters was the first to report the assassination of US President,AbrahamLincoln, in 1865, throwing European financial markets into turmoil. In 1865, Reuterswas floated as a £250,000 public company.As technology advanced with overland telegraph and undersea cable facilities, the business expanded beyond Europe. It entered the Far East in 1872 and South America in 1874.

Reuter cededmanagement to his son Herbert in 1878. Herbert established Reuter’s Bank in 1913. Two years later, duringWorldWar I, Herbert committed suicide. Roderick Jones, an executive of Reuters in SouthAfrica, assumed control of Reuters. He changed the company’s name to Reuters Ltd. and took it a private company by becoming its principal shareholder in 1916 to avoid hostile takeover.