Sherry Brydson is the largest shareholder of Woodbridge, an investment firm that controls Thomson Reuters. The Ontario, Canada-based firms owns two-thirds of the financial data and services provider, which had revenue of $6.6 billion in 2022. She owns about 23% of Woodbridge’s assets and her relatives own the rest.
The majority of Brydson’s fortune is derived from Woodbridge, an investment firm that manages the family fortune originated by Canadian media magnate Roy Thomson. After his death in 1976, Thomson’s estate was divided between his three children. His son, Kenneth, inherited 42% and his two daughters, Audrey and Irma, received 33% and 23%, respectively, according to a person familiar with the family’s assets who asked not to be identified because Woodbridge is closely held.
Each heir evenly split their share in Woodbridge among their children, the source said. David and his two siblings, Peter and Taylor, each received 14% of Woodbridge. Each of Audrey’s three children, Linda Campbell, Susan Grange and Gaye Farncombe, received 11%. Sherry Brydson, the only child of Irma, owns about 23%.
Brydson is calculated in this analysis to own 23% of Woodbridge’s stake in Thomson Reuters and it’s Cash & Other Assets.
Woodbridge owns about 69% on Thomson Reuters, according to the 2022 proxy filing filing.
Cash & Other Assets is based on Woodbridge asset values as disclosed in a 2007 investor presentation and adjusted to reflect assets held through Westerkirk Capital, dividends, insider transactions, taxes and market performance. The family has collected more than $3 billion in dividend income and share sales since 2007, based on an analysis of company filings and Bloomberg data.
David Ryan, a spokesman for Brydson, said she declined to comment on her net worth.
Biography
Canada’s richest family was set on its path to wealth in 1931, when Roy Thomson acquired a radio station in North Bay, Ontario. Two years later he bought the Timmins Press, a newspaper in Ontario. Within five years, Thomson was Canada’s leading newspaper owner. After expanding in the UK, he sold shares in a public offering in 1965, with his son Kenneth taking over the business in 1976.
While Kenneth ran the family business and eventually inherited about a 42 percent ownership in the company, Roy’s two daughters also inherited large minority stakes. Roy’s older daughter, Audrey, received about 33 percent. Irma got about 23 percent. Kenneth had three children — David, Peter and Taylor — who each inherited about 14 percent of Woodbridge. Audrey had three children who each received 11 percent: Linda Campbell, Susan Grange and Gaye Farncombe. Irma had one child: Sherry Brydson.
Brydson was raised in Toronto and attended the University of Toronto where she was news editor of the campus paper, The Varsity. In 1969, she authored a series of three articles on pollution that are credited with sparking the Canadian environmental movement, according to a story in the University of Toronto Magazine in 1999. She graduated in 1970 with a degree in political science and left to pursue a career in journalism in the UK, according to the article.
She later moved to Victoria, British Columbia, and began using a closely held company she owns, Westerkirk Capital, to manage a part of her fortune held under the Woodbridge company. Among its investments: developing hotels with Marriott in Nova Scotia, making Twin Otter aircraft in Vancouver Island through her Viking Air subsidiary, and owning a series of AM and FM radio stations through Vista Radio.
Through the Irma J. Brydson foundation, she has given money to support the Toronto YWCA among other social institutions in Canada.
Milestones
- 1931 Grandfather Roy Thomson buys a radio station in North Bay, Ontario.
- 1934 Roy Thomson purchases the Timmins, Ontario, newspaper, his first.
- 1969 Writes articles on pollution, sparking Canada environmental movement.
- 1970 Graduates from the University of Toronto with a political science degree.
- 1976 Roy Thomson dies in London at age 82.
- 2003 Buys Viking Air through Westerkirk Capital company.
- 2013 Sherry Brydson owns at least 23 percent of The Woodbridge Company.
- 2013 Revealed as third-richest person in Canada.
The Woodbridge Company
The Woodbridge Company Limited is a Canadian private holding company based in Toronto, Ontario. It is the primary investment vehicle for members of the family of the late Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet. David W. Binet has been the president and chief executive officer of the company since 2012.
Main holdings
Woodbridge is the principal and controlling shareholder (67.8%) of Thomson Reuters, a multinational media conglomerate. Thomson Reuters was formed in 2008, when the Thomson Corporation acquired Reuters.
In late 2010, Woodbridge sold its 40% interest in CTVglobemedia (a Canadian media company with ownership of the CTV Television Network) to BCE Inc. Woodbridge held an 85% interest in The Globe and Mail newspaper before acquiring the remaining 15% owned by BCE in August 2015.
Ownership
Woodbridge is the primary investment vehicle for members of the Thomson family of Canada. David Thomson and his brother, Peter Thomson, became chairmen of Woodbridge in 2006 upon the death of their father, Kenneth Thomson.
In 2015, Canadian Business magazine reported that Sherry Brydson – child of Irma Thomson, one of Roy Thomson’s two daughters – holds the largest stake in the family company. It is estimated that she holds 23.47% of the company’s shares.
