Thomson Reuters Doubles Down on Proprietary AI with Thomson LLM and Accelerates Growth
Q2 2026 shows accelerated organic growth, a new proprietary LLM, and a strategic pivot away from print.
TRI · Earnings Call · 2026-08-05
Accelerated Growth and Raised Guidance
Thomson Reuters reported Q2 2026 with total organic revenue growth of 8%, and the Big 3 segments accelerating to 10% organic growth, up from 9% in recent quarters. CFO Gary Bischoping noted on the call that "organic recurring and transactional revenue grew 9% and 11%, respectively," while print declined 3%. The company raised its full-year 2026 revenue outlook to approximately 8% at the high end of prior guidance, citing the stronger first-half performance. This marks the second consecutive quarter of accelerating Big 3 growth, a trend CEO Steve Hasker attributes to momentum in legal, corporates, and tax/accounting, driven by AI-enabled offerings like CoCounsel legal and Westlaw Advantage.
The Thomson LLM: A Game Changer
The most significant strategic development this quarter is the introduction of Thomson, Thomson Reuters' proprietary large language model. Trained on less than 10% of the company's legal content, Thomson already benchmarks on par with leading frontier models on general domain tasks while performing strongly on legal tasks. CEO Steve Hasker emphasized: “And that will give us, we think, the benefit of reduced latency, so greater speed, more scalability, and a cost advantage.” — Stephen Hasker, Chief Executive Officer · 2026-08-05 This cost and speed advantage is a key differentiator, especially as the company explores sovereign AI deployments for its most sophisticated clients, who are increasingly demanding control over their IP and data. The benchmarking results were so compelling that Hasker declared:
The benchmarking results embolden our strategy for Thomson and provide growing confidence in its potential.
In prior quarters, management had hinted at this possibility; back in May 2026, Hasker said, “we're very excited about the work that Jonathan is doing and the early results.” — Stephen Hasker, Chief Executive Officer · 2026-05-05 Now, Thomson is moving from lab to production, with Tabular Analysis in CoCounsel Legal set to be powered by it later this month.
CoCounsel Momentum and Agentic AI
The next-generation CoCounsel Legal has completed its beta ahead of schedule and is now in early access for all existing customers. Hasker described the feedback as “extremely strong” — Stephen Hasker, Chief Executive Officer · 2026-08-05 and highlighted the transparency of the agentic capabilities. CFO Gary Bischoping added that the pipeline for CoCounsel is "building nicely" with “good conversion early on in that pipeline.” — Gary Bischoping, Chief Financial Officer · 2026-08-05 The integration of Thomson into CoCounsel is expected to reduce costs further while improving speed and scalability. This builds on earlier commentary from November 2025, when Hasker noted that “Where we have seen the entrance of new players is in the AI assistant space. Now that is a greenfield sort of white space opportunity for us.” — Stephen Hasker, CEO · 2025-11-04 Today, that white space is being captured with a proprietary model that could shift the cost curve of AI delivery.
Portfolio Evolution with Global Print
Thomson Reuters also announced a definitive agreement to sell a 51% stake in its Global Print business to KKR for approximately $500 million. This transaction sharpens the focus on content-powered AI solutions and is expected to be modestly accretive to organic revenue growth. The company highlighted that adjusting for this transaction, the Big 3 would contribute 87% of revenues and 86% recurring revenue. This portfolio evolution is part of a broader strategy to become a higher-growth, higher-quality business. Hasker said, "We are excited about this transaction, which will sharpen our focus on content-powered AI solutions serving fiduciaries." The move also improves the quality of revenue mix, with recurring revenue rising to 86% on an as-adjusted basis.
Capital Allocation and Shareholder Returns
In May, the company executed a $605 million return of capital and completed a $600 million share repurchase program in July, reducing share count by ~3%. With approximately $9 billion of estimated capital capacity through 2028, management remains focused on balanced capital allocation, prioritizing investment in innovation and strategic M&A. CFO Gary Bischoping noted, "Our objective, as Steve outlined, is to drive innovation, really to beat our competitors, delight our customers while maintaining a key focus on shareholder value creation." This disciplined approach supports both organic investment in AI and the ability to return capital opportunistically.
The combination of strong organic growth, a proprietary LLM with cost advantages, and a portfolio shift toward higher-margin AI-enabled businesses makes this quarter a pivotal moment for Thomson Reuters. Thomson LLM is not just a technical achievement but a strategic asset that could reshape the cost structure and competitive positioning of the company's AI offerings. As the company explores consumption-based pricing and deeper integration with CoCounsel, the potential for margin expansion and accelerated growth becomes clearer. This is a company that is not just riding the AI wave but attempting to own it.