Compared to Thomson Reuters, Casetext is a relatively small company with relatively minimal revenue, and one that effectively refocused its product strategy over the past year, launching its generative AI product CoCounsel just four months ago.
So why did TR shell out a record $650 million in cash to acquire Casetext? That was the question on the minds of several of TR’s institutional investors during a call this morning at which the company briefed them on the deal, announced late last night.
The answer, effectively, boils down to: It’s all about the AI.
The briefing was conducted by TR CEO Steve Hasker, Chief Financial Officer Michael Eastwood, and Chief Product Officer David Wong.
During the call, several investors explicitly asked the three executives why TR had decided to acquire Casetext rather than build its own generative AI.
Their answer was that Casetext’s early access to OpenAI’s GPT-4 model and its experience in working with legal
