FT’s goal: 1 million subscribers, big hires

The Financial Times would like to reach 1 million subscribers and is planning some big editorial hires, report Peter Sterne and Joe Pompeo of Politico.

Sterne and Pompeo write, “The FT was acquired for $1.3 billion last year by Japanese media company Nikkei, which has promised to pursue growth despite what the FT itself has described as ‘daunting trading conditions’ and ‘tough times’ related to the newspaper industry’s advertising slump.
Nikkei is ‘taking a healthy and inspiring long-term view’ with the FT, said CEO John Ridding, addressing the crowd. ‘A good part of that growth will come from the U.S.’

“With its premium readership and a lucrative subscription model underpinning its business, the FT is in a better position than most to weather the storm. But ‘nobody’s immune,’ Editor in Chief Lionel Barber told POLITICO’s Morning Media.

“Barber said one of the FT’s goals is to surpass one million combined digital and print subscribers (they’re currently at around 800,000), and he teased ‘a couple big hires in London’ soon be announced, without naming names.”

Read more here.