Reuters is a global information company providing material tailored for professionals in the financial services , media and corporate markets . Its information is trusted and drives decision making across the globe . In October 1851 Paul Julius Reuter , a German-born immigrant , opened an office in the City of London which transmitted stock market quotations between London and Paris via the new Calais-Dover cable . 18 months earlier he had used pigeons to fly stock prices between Aachen and Brussels , a service which operated for a year until the gap in the telegraph link was closed . Reuters , as the agency soon became known , eventually extended its service to other European countries . It also expanded the content to include general and economic news from all around the world . In 1865 Reuters was first in Europe with news of President Lincoln 's assassination in the United States . As overland telegraph and undersea cable facilities developed , the business expanded beyond Europe to include the Far East in 1872 and South America in 1874 . In 1883 Reuters began to use a `` column printer '' to transmit messages electrically to London newspapers and in 1923 pioneered the use of radio to transmit news internationally . In 1927 it brought in the teleprinter to distribute news to London newspapers . Today Reuters has over 16,900 staff in over 94 countries across the globe , and is the world 's largest international multimedia news agency , with 196 bureaux serving approximately 131 countries . In 2006 Reuters filed over two and a half million news items , including 656,500 alerts , from 209 countries around the world , published in 18 languages . Although Reuters is best known as the world 's largest international multimedia news agency , more than 90 % of its revenue derives from its financial services business . Some 370,000 financial market professionals working in the equities , fixed income , foreign exchange , money , commodities and energy markets around the world use Reuters products . The company supplies news -- text , graphics , video and pictures -- to media organizations across the globe . It also provides news to businesses outside the financial services sector , as well as direct to consumers . E-mail to a friend .
Reuters was founded in 1851 by Julius Reuter , transmitting market quotations . The company was first in Europe with news of President Lincoln 's assassination . Today Reuters has 196 bureaux serving approximately 131 countries .