Reuters Group, a financial market data provider and a news service that provides reports from around the world to newspapers and broadcasters, says it has received a tentative takeover bid from an unidentified suitor, sending the stock up a record 25 percent and propelling the London-based company's market value to 7.75 billion pounds ($15.4 billion).
The offer was believed to have come from Canadian rival Thomson, the Financial Times said, but neither Thomson nor Reuters would comment.
Bloomberg reports that "Thomson Corp. offered to buy Reuters Group Plc to challenge Bloomberg LP as the world's largest provider of financial news and information, according to a person with knowledge of the approach."
The approach comes days after Dow Jones & Co., the New York-based publisher of The Wall Street Journal, received a takeover offer from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., the New York-based media conglomerate.
Reuters shares rose 25 percent Friday to 615 pence ($12.24) on the London Stock Exchange, driving up its market capitalization to 7.74 billion pounds ($15.4 billion). The company's U.S. shares rose $15.84, or 27 percent, to $74.76 in New York.
Shares of Thomson fell 28 cents to $43.45.
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