Bridge Information Systems, Inc., was a financial news and data provider that was acquired by Reuters Group in September 2001.
[1] The origins of Bridge date to 1974, when the original company was founded in St. Louis by investment analysts through acquisition of a computer firm from Dean Witter & Co.[2] Principal founder Charles A. Lebens thought that the development of new time-sensitive investments and financial industry deregulation would create a market for up-to-date financial information.
[2] In March 1995, Bridge was acquired by private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe.
[7] Bridge also bought the Telerate unit of Dow Jones & Company in 1998 in return for $150 million of preferred stock.
[8][9] As of May 2000 the company had 5,000 employees (a ten-fold growth from five years prior); half were located in the United States, and six hundred reporters were spread over 100 countries.