Financial Times celebrates 20th anniversary of U.S. edition

The Financial Times celebrated the 20th anniversary of its U.S. edition with a party in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

The event welcomed more than 250 guests from the worlds of business, finance, politics, and media. The United States is now the largest single country for FT readership. Paid readership in the U.S. makes up over a quarter of global readers and is growing 33 percent year on year.

At the end of last year, the Financial Times had a circulation of almost 850,000 across digital and print, up 8 percent year-on-year. Digital subscriptions grew 14 percent to 650,000, more than three-quarters of the total paying audience. During the Brexit referendum and the U.S. presidential election, the FT saw subscription acquisition gains of 75 percent and 33 percent, respectively, in the weeks surrounding the events versus average levels.

“These are testing times for our democracy and the pursuit of trusted, independent journalism. . . Our institutions are being tested, so too the practice of journalism,” said FT editor in chief Lionel Barber at the party. “We journalists should never forget that our privileged status confers a special obligation to attend to the facts and to pursue, as best we can, the truth.”

Invited guests included Paul Backett of The Wall Street Journal and Margaret Sullivan of The Washington Post.

Guests left with goody bags that included Hotel Chocolat truffles, Molton Brown hand wash, FT Rubik’s Cubes, Ettinger wallets, and a pair of books by FT writers: “The Retreat of Western Liberalism” by Washington columnist and commentator Edward Luce, and “Makers and Takers” by FT associate editor and global business columnist Rana Foroohar.