Thomson Reuters has confirmed that it will reduced its workforce by approximately 2,000 worldwide (some 4% of the 48,000 people the information and mass media giant employs globally).

The parent company of Reuters News is also set to take a fourth quarter restructuring charge of between $200m and $250m as it aims to streamline its businesses.

The job cuts are chiefly set to affect its financial & risk business, and the enterprise, technology & operations group it created in January. Employees have been told that there is unlikely to be a reduction to the headcount in its newsroom.

Chief executive Jim Smith said the changes were part of a multi-year restructuring effort.

"It's about simplification and taking out bureaucracy and taking out layers all of which have added complexity and slowed us down," said Smith.

"These actions are not driven by any reaction to market conditions or in any way coming on the back of underperformance...

"Our core subscription businesses are moving in the right direction, our cost controls are working and we are increasingly confident in our execution capability. That is why we are going to pick up the pace of our transformation efforts."

Following the announcement, the company's shares jumped about 4% in early trading in New York and Toronto.

Thomson Reuters also reported a 1% increase in total revenues year-on-year to $2.74bn in the third quarter. The information and media giant expects "low single-digit" growth of 2% to 3% for 2016 overall.