Financial Times sold to Japanese media group Nikkei for £844m
The 127-year-old Financial Times, whose pink pages are as much a symbol of the City as the pinstriped suit, is to be sold to a Japanese financial media company by its British owners for £844m.
The sale to Nikkei by Pearson, which comes after years of speculation over its long-term commitment to owning the FT, demonstrates the eagerness of cash-rich international investors looking to expand into a financial news landscape dominated by the English language.
Pearson, which bought the FT in 1957, said it had decided to sell in order to focus on its far larger educational publishing business in the US. John Fallon, Pearson’s chief executive, said: “Education and journalism are both great and noble callings but they are not the same thing and require different skills, capabilities and intensity of focus.
“Pearson has been a proud proprietor of the FT for nearly 60 years. But we’ve reached an inflection point in media, driven by the explosive growth of mobile and social. In this new environment, the best way to ensure the FT’s journalistic and commercial success is for it to be part of a global, digital news company.”
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Source News: The Guardian
Photograph: Richard Levine/Demotix/Corbis
