Bloomberg did not issue a detailed statement about why it entered this market. But it places that company in head-to-head competition with Thomson in another area. Thomson Reuter's Markets division competes with Bloomberg and Thomson CEO Tom Glocer recently sacked the head of that group and took over day-to-day operation. The company has reportedly lost ground to Bloomberg and the Thomson family was not happy with Markets game plan.

BNA is privately held, but because it is employee-owned, it is required to report financial results to the SEC given the number of shareholders.

While BNA stayed profitable during the recession, its 2010 numbers are down from fiscal 2007 when it reported $352.2 million in revenue. Its fiscal 2010 earnings were $27.6 million, sharply off the slightly more than $88 million in net income for 2007, its peak year.

One area harmed by the recession was BNA Subsidiaries, which included the IOMA and Kennedy Information operations. BNA placed the unit in Chapter 11 in September and the reorganization plan was confirmed on March 22. BNA, which wrote off $17.8 million in impaired goodwill last year, acquired the subsidiary's assets and placed them in a new unit called Kennedy Information.