OLD Media Moves

FT selling stake in German biz newspaper

January 17, 2008

Posted by Chris Roush

The parent company of the Financial Times is planning to sell its stake in a German business newspaper, write Financial Times reporters Gerrit Wiesmann and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson.

Financial TimesThey wrote, “Pearson is understood to be close to selling its half-share in FT Deutschland, the Financial Times’s German sister paper, to joint venture partner Gruner + Jahr, ending the UK media group’s foray into foreign language newspapers.

“People familiar with the deal said G+J, controlled by German media group Bertelsmann, had beaten nat­ional rivals Holtzbrinck and Sueddeutsche Zeitung to satisfy Pearson’s asking price of €15m ($21.9m) to €20m.

“G+J was expected to pay about half up-front and the rest in the form of annual licence fees for the brand ‘FT Deutschland’, which it will control for 10 years. The transaction could be ann­oun­ced as early as next week.”

Read more here.

Subscribe to TBN

Receive updates about new stories in the industry daily or weekly.

Subscribe to TBN

Receive updates about new stories in the industry.