Nikkei sees win-win scenario with FT deal

The combination is aiming for maximum exposure in key markets and on digital media

Nikkei Inc will use its $1.3 billion (Dh4.8 billion) purchase of the Financial Times to build a digital media powerhouse by harnessing the Englishlanguage newspaper’s brand and skill in getting subscribers to pay for premium business news, its chairman said.

As the biggest international acquisition by a Japanese media organisation completes, Nikkei Chairman Tsuneo Kita also said he would guarantee the independence of the salmon-pink title by giving his word about not meddling. “Our management objectives at Nikkei are global and digital, those are the two key words, and so for the future, in order to grow as global media and to further promote our digital media business, the best partner is definitely the FT,” Kita said.

Ranked as one of the world’s most authoritative newspapers, the Financial Times enjoys strong loyalty from its readers in Europe and was one of the first newspapers to successfully charge for access to its website. Established in 1888 and first printed on pink paper in 1893 to stand out from rivals, the FT has pioneered the development over the last decade of a profitable subscriptionbased business model for the online newspaper.

The Japanese group beat Germany’s Axel Springer’s in July to buy the FT from Pearson, which wanted to focus on its bigger education business.

Kita and John Ridding, chief executive of the Financial Times, dismissed talk of a trophy purchase, saying both Nikkei and the FT saw an opportunity to move beyond the traditional defensive play of some competitors who are trying to shore up their print circulations.

“A lot of news media, particularly traditional news media, has been playing defence,” Ridding said. “But we believe there’s a strong opportunity for growth, that we are at the intersection of two of the big global trends of our time which are digital, and particularly mobile, and the globalisation of business.” Ridding said the FT was “a little underweight” in the US and Asia, where he said Nikkei could help the paper.