US investor relations services giants embrace web disclosure

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THOMSON REUTERS and Nasdaq OMX, the two US investor relations services giants, are set to launch new one-stop web disclosure tools that give companies greater choice and direct control over how they meet their regulatory obligations and communicate with investors online.

The moves, which are a logical response to new web technologies, regulatory changes, and evolving investor preferences, have the potential to substantially streamline and reshape disclosure practices at thousands of US companies.

Thomson Reuters, which worked with NYSE Euronext to develop its product, says it hosts more than 2,700 companies’ investor relations websites, while Nasdaq OMX is believed to have about 700 clients. has 1,078 IR website clients.

Both the Thomson Reuters and Nasdaq OMX products will enable companies to directly distribute their disclosure information in real time to their choice of disclosure points from a single web publishing tool. Companies using the Thomson Reuters product will no longer need to use external PR wire services and all disclosures will be covered by a flat annual fee.

Nasdaq OMX is leveraging its GlobeNewswire PR wire service and its Shareholder.com IR website product to create a similar tool called GlobeNewswire DIY that also will have a fixed per-release or flat annual fee. Currently, PR wire fees are based on a word count and can easily run to more than $5,000 for a quarterly results release.

“As part of GlobeNewswire’s strategy to offer our customers a variety of solutions to meet their information dissemination needs, we believe the DIY model reflects a wide spectrum of options, from a simple online media advisory to material financial news with an EDGAR filing,” said Demetrios N. Skalkotos, Senior Vice President of Global Corporate Solutions at Nasdaq OMX, in a news release.

Details of Thomson Reuters’ new web disclosure product are posted on the company’s website. It includes a publishing tool, new website disclosure module, and improved web reporting features to enable companies to better track investor, media and social media reaction to their news.

The company is also playing up several social media features, such as the ability for investors to share content from companies’ websites.

Thomson Reuters will host a lunch-and-learn on the web disclosure process at the NIRI annual conference on Tuesday, June 8. The session will feature Jason McGruder from BGC Partners Inc., which has been using its website as its primary IR channel for more than a year (see earlier story), and Theresa Molloy, vice president of corporate client services at NYSE Euronext.

A fact sheet on Thomson Reuters’ web disclosure product is embedded below.

Thomson Reuters Web Disclosure Fact Sheet

Dominic Jones

Dominic (bio & disclosures) is IR Web Report‘s founder and an online investor relations consultant. He advises leading public companies and investor relations service providers worldwide on using the web for disclosure, engagement and profile building. You can contact him via the contacts page.