Refinitiv’s Eikon Terminals Trigger Five-Hour Outage

Refinitiv, the data and trading provider owned by London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), suffered a five-hour outage on Thursday (April 8) that took some of its popular services offline, Financial Times reported.

Some of its 400,000 global users worldwide felt the brunt of the outrage. Problems with Refinitiv’s services started in the early morning and were largely brought back during the trading day. Eikon terminals were affected, which sit on traders’ desks, the group said.

The outage follows news that the LSEG would have to exceed spending predicted by analysts that were anticipating to fold its $27 billion purchase of Refinitiv and resolve longstanding technology problems.

London Stock Exchange shares felt the effect of a one-day plummet that was the lowest in more than two decades.

“We understand and regret the inconvenience caused by this incident to you personally and to your organization,” Refinitiv said, per FT.

Earlier in the day, Refinitiv reportedly told customers that investigations pointed to an outage triggered by a problem with its authentication servers.

Last month, shares of LSEG dropped in the news that its Refinitiv’s integration was too costly. The majority of Refinitiv investment will be focused on its trading and banking business, the company said. LSEG acquired the data and analytics company Refinitiv in January for $27 billion.

Costs related to the integration of Refinitiv and the LSEG could have caused shares to fall in early March, despite an increase in profits and revenue, Reuters reported.

Earlier last month, costs related to the integration of Refinitiv and LSEG likely “spooked” analysts, causing shares to fall last month, despite an increase in profits and revenue.

LSEG acquired the data and analytics company Refinitiv in January for $27 billion. Following a conference call with analysts on Friday, shares dropped 13 percent to 8,237 pence, the steepest one-day decline in the past 12 months.

Guidance for this year’s mid-single-digit cost growth “spooked the market” and sparked fears that long-term forecasts could be lower than previously forecast, according to Credit Suisse, per Reuters.