The terminal revolution: Reuters and Bloomberg as global providers of financial and economic news, 1960-2020

Bakker, Gerben ORCID: 0000-0001-6109-0693 (2025) The terminal revolution: Reuters and Bloomberg as global providers of financial and economic news, 1960-2020. Economic History Working Papers (384). London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.

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Abstract

We identify a previously underappreciated data revolution starting in the 1960s, in which business information firms adopted ICT very early on to automate market data sales. Before this ‘terminal revolution’, securities firms could barely cope with the paperwork of growing trading volumes, forcing the NYSE to close on Wednesdays to allow them to catch up. The terminal revolution placed computer screens on every client’s desk, changed how data was accessed and acted on, and created virtual trading floors, foreshadowing almost all stages the internet would go through some three decades later. We focus on early entrant Reuters and late entrant Bloomberg, which came to dominate global market data provision, discussing other firms along the way. We find that theory on sunk costs and market structure (Sutton, 1998) can explain how the exploding market remained highly concentrated, despite many new entrants. We also find that financial and business news (subject to Arrow’s paradox) was a complement to data (not subject to Arrow’s paradox), and barely profitable by itself: only firms offering both financial news and data tended to survive.

Item Type:	Monograph (Working Paper)
Official URL:	https://www.lse.ac.uk/Economic-History/Working-Pap...
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author
Divisions:	Economic History
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HG Finance Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
JEL classification:	L - Industrial Organization > L8 - Industry Studies: Services > L82 - Entertainment; Media (Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Broadcasting, Publishing, etc.) L - Industrial Organization > L8 - Industry Studies: Services > L86 - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software N - Economic History > N2 - Financial Markets and Institutions > N20 - General, International, or Comparative N - Economic History > N7 - Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, Technology, and Other Services > N72 - U.S.; Canada: 1913- N - Economic History > N7 - Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, Technology, and Other Services > N74 - Europe: 1913- N - Economic History > N8 - Micro-Business History > N82 - U.S.; Canada: 1913- N - Economic History > N8 - Micro-Business History > N84 - Europe: 1913- O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Technological Change; Research and Development > O33 - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
Date Deposited:	23 Oct 2025 08:30
Last Modified:	23 Oct 2025 08:54
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/129938

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