Thomson Reuters appoints COO, merges divisions

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Thomson Reuters Corp named Jim Smith as chief operating officer and said it would merge its two main divisions, Markets and Professional, to "capture operating efficiencies from scale."

Smith, whose appointment is effective immediately, was previously the chief executive of the Professional division, which sells legal, tax and accounting products such as WestlawNext.

The changes come as the news and information company undergoes a series of shakeups after disappointing revenue growth in the Markets division, which serves financial institutions and competes with Bloomberg LP, News Corp's Dow Jones and FactSet Research.

The Markets unit was reorganized in July, resulting in the departure of several executives including division CEO Devin Wenig, following disappointing sales of the company's new Eikon desktop.

(Reporting by Jennifer Saba, editing by Tiffany Wu and Ted Kerr)