Thomson Reuters, owner of the Reuters news site, is acquiring Casetext, an artificial intelligence-powered legal research company, it announced yesterday (June 26). It will pay $650 million in cash for Casetext in a deal that is expected to close later this year.
A company spokesperson told Observer that, while a large, cross-functional group at Thomson Reuters worked on the acquisition, it was primarily driven by CEO Steve Hasker and the strategy team, led by Chief Strategy Officer David Larson. Larson has worked at the company for seven years, according to his LinkedIn.
In addition to the company’s news service, Thomson Reuters has a robust legal business. It owns Westlaw, a legal research service and database; Practice Law, which provides templates and checklists; and HighQ, a business management and software service. Thomson Reuters’ legal business earned $714 million in the three months ending March 31, or 41 percent of the total revenue in that time. It was the highest-earning segment of Thomson Reuters’ business during that period.
The acquisition also builds on Thomson Reuters’ growing AI business. The company will spend $100 million each year on AI technologies, in addition to budgeting $10 billion for mergers and acquisitions until 2025, Thomson Reuters executives said during the company’s earnings announcement last month. Its existing services include generative AI that answers legal and accounting questions and a product that can help draft legal documents. The company’s stock is up 2 percent since the announcement, trading today at $136 per share.
“The acquisition of Casetext is another step in our ‘build, partner and buy’ strategy to bring generative AI solutions to our customers,” Hasker said in a company statement. “We believe that Casetext will accelerate and expand our market potential for these offerings – revolutionizing the way professionals work, and the work they do.”
Who is Steve Hasker?
Hasker has worked as the president and CEO of Thomson Reuters for three years. He oversees 25,000 employees in over 100 countries, according to the company website. The CEO grew up in Australia and has worked across North America, Europe and Asia.
Hasker began his career as a manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he worked for five years. He then spent more than a decade as a partner at McKinsey & Company’s global media, entertainment and information practice. Hasker also held executive roles at Nielsen, Creative Artists Agency and
Since Hasker has been at the helm of Thomson Reuters, the company has participated in a series of acquisitions. It paid $500 million for SurePrep, a tax automation software powered by AI, in January. It also paid undisclosed amounts for Gestta Technology, an accounting software, and ThoughtTrace, a document review and contract analysis platform that uses AI.
What is Casetext?
A group of lawyers, including Jake Heller, Laura Safdie and Pablo Arredondo, founded Casetext in 2013. It began as a free service offering lawyer-annotated legal texts, and it now uses AI to aid in legal work. CoCounsel, its primary product targeted at law firms and corporate legal departments, is a ChatGPT-powered legal assistant that can review documents, search databases and analyze contracts. Its most expensive plan costs $500 per month, according to the company website. Casetext has 104 employees and more than 10,000 customers, according to the Thomson Reuters statement.
“Joining Thomson Reuters is an incredible opportunity to advance our mission and the field of generative AI solutions exponentially, not only for lawyers but across professions, ensuring this revolutionary technology can benefit as many people as possible,” Jake Heller, co-founder and CEO of Casetext, said in a statement.
