About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

Merrill Lynch Declares Losses, Confirms Sale of Bloomberg Shares for US$4.43bn

Subscribe to our newsletter

Wall Street investment bank Merrill Lynch yesterday confirmed a US$4.65 billion loss during its second quarter, bringing the total losses over the last year to US$19 billion. CEO John Thain also confirmed that the bank has sold its 20% stake in Bloomberg back to the financial news and data provider for US$4.43 billion, in order to offset the losses.

Thain commented in a conference call: “This was a difficult and disappointing quarter in terms of the bottom line. But, in spite of this loss, we likely have in our last two quarters more than replaced the capital that we lost.” Merrill Lynch has also indicated it is in discussions with an undisclosed buyer about the sale of one of its subsidiaries, Financial Data Services, for around US$3.5 billion.

The sale of the bank’s 20% of Bloomberg shares assumes a valuation for the entire company of US$22.5 billion and values Michael Bloomberg’s personal stake of 68% at US$15 billion. This is substantially greater than the valuation of its rival, Reuters, when Thomson purchased it for £8.7 billion earlier this year.

However, given the fact that Bloomberg had a vested interest in offering a high price for its shares, it is worth asking whether this is an accurate valuation? It also gives rise to the question, how much is the combined entity, Thomson Reuters, actually worth?

Despite the fact that Thomson Reuters’ second quarter earnings are expected to be solid, the combined entity’s share price has fallen over recent months and is expected to fall further due to fears that its business will be hit by the downturn in the market. According to reports, UBS analyst Polo Tang has advised shareholders to sell due to concerns over potential cancellations of subscriptions towards the end of the year.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Upcoming Webinar: Unlocking Transparency in Private Markets: Data-Driven Strategies in Asset Management

15 October 2025 10:00am ET | 3:00pm London | 4:00pm CET Duration: 50 Minutes As asset managers continue to increase their allocations in private assets, the demand for greater transparency, risk oversight, and operational efficiency is growing rapidly. Managing private markets data presents its own set of unique challenges due to a lack of transparency,...

BLOG

Modern Data Platforms Empower Critical Use Cases: Webinar Preview

No longer is it enough for financial institutions to be simply “on top” of their data management architecture. They need to be constantly looking for the next innovation to keep them ahead of the game in this fast-moving space. That’s why modern data management platforms are the focus of so many organisations at the moment....

EVENT

Data Management Summit New York City

Now in its 15th year the Data Management Summit NYC brings together the North American data management community to explore how data strategy is evolving to drive business outcomes and speed to market in changing times.

GUIDE

Regulatory Data Handbook 2025 – Thirteenth Edition

Welcome to the thirteenth edition of A-Team Group’s Regulatory Data Handbook, a unique and practical guide to capital markets regulation, regulatory change, and the data and data management requirements of compliance across Europe, the UK, US and Asia-Pacific. This year’s edition lands at a moment of accelerating regulatory divergence and intensifying data focused supervision. Inside,...