Nikkei scoops FT for £844m
THE Financial Times will be sold to Japanese news group Nikkei, ending almost 60 years of ownership by British group Pearson.
The £844m deal sees the newspaper and its associated websites pass to the new owners before the end of the year.
But the takeover excludes Pearson’s 50pc stake in The Economist magazine, which was previously held within the FT group, and its Southwark headquarters.
The move consigns the FT to the extensive and eclectic list of Pearson’s past investments, which include the Alton Towers theme park, and the Royal Doulton porcelain company.
It is also a break with the vow of former chief executive Dame Marjorie Scardino, who said the firm would sell the business newspaper ‘over my dead body’. Yesterday, her successor John Fallon, who took over two years ago, said the group would now be ‘100pc focused on our global education strategy’.
Pearson owns an assortment of education publishing and software busi nesses across 80 countries.
Fallon’s comments also raised the question over the future of its noneducation operations, which include a 47pc stake in Penguin Random House as well as its 50pc ownership of The Economist.
He said the new ownership would give the publication a ‘chance to rethink and reimagine the way that the FT sells its journalism t o mobile and social media’.
The FT adapted to the rise of the internet by encouraging customers to pay to access its stories and commentary online.
Some 70pc of its 737,000 subscribers are online, with half of all readers using mobile devices to access its content.
Its division, which includes The Economist, last year reported profits of £24m on sales of £334m.
More than a year ago the firm began sounding out buyers after becoming convinced that it needed more ‘investment’, Fallon said. He added: ‘The FT really needed to be part of an organisation [where] everything it does is completely and absolutely focused on journalism.’
It is thought that interested buyers included the Bloomberg financial news agency as well as Germany’s Axel Springer, publisher of the mass-market Bild newspaper.
Fallon said Nikkei would offer ‘strength and staunch support of the FT’s independence’ to publish its own stories.
Nikkei is Asia’s largest independent business media group.
It owns the flagship newspaper Nikkei and other operations, ranging from books and magazines to digital media, database services and broadcasting.
Chairman and chief executive Tsuneo Kita said: ‘I am extremely proud of teaming up with the Financial Times, one of the most prestigious news organisations in the world.’
FT chief executive John Ridding said: ‘This deal is really about building on t he very strong fundamentals that we [Pearson] have established.’
Ian Whittaker, media analyst at Liberum, said the purchase price of £844m is ‘a good price, undoubtedly, although below the £1bn that had been mentioned’. Pearson was founded back in 1844 by Samuel Pearson as a building company. Its early projects included building docks i n Britain and Canada.
The company entered the media business in 1921 by buying a small group of British local newspapers. It acquired the FT in 1957.
The FT began life in 1888, and began printing on its i conic salmon-pink paper in 1893 because the tinted paper was a cheaper option at the time. Shares in Pearson rose 25p or 2pc to close at 1234p.
The company will today report its half-year trading figures.