FT prospered under hands-off owner

Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson of the Financial Times writes about the business newspaper’s history as it is being sold to Nikkei for $1.3 billion.

Edgecliffe-Johnson writes, “Under Lionel Barber, editor since 2005, and John Ridding, chief executive since 2006, the ‘pink paper’ has developed a digital-first business model. It charged for content on principle, pioneered a ‘metered’ online access model that has been widely copied and more recently introduced a ‘cost per hour’ advertising metric, measuring how long a digital ad is seen.

“Such moves, coupled with total circulation growth of 10 per cent last year and rising profitability, helped persuade Nikkei that what was once the house paper of the City of London’s trading class had become both a global brand with a valuable audience and a digital growth business that stands out from print-dominated rivals.

“‘The Financial Times stands as a crossover champ in the news industry,’ Mr Doctor said, while cautioning that it must still ‘figure out the challenge of managing the ebbing away of its more than £100m in print advertising.’

“As competition intensifies from print peers and well-funded new digital rivals, that theory will now be tested, as will the question of whether a new owner will honour editorial independence as the heirs to S. Pearson Industries have done.”

Read more here.