Categories: OLD Media Moves

Nikkei to acquire Financial Times

Japanese newspaper Nikkei will acquire The Financial Times from London-based publisher Pearson PLC, the companies confirmed Thursday.

Nathan Bomey and Roger Yu of USA Today write, “The move comes as Pearson is seeking to focus on its larger education unit that sells textbooks and online learning tools for students and teachers.

“Nikkei confirmed that it agreed to pay 844 million pounds, or about $1.3 billion, for FT Group, a division of Pearson.

“The deal does not include Pearson’s 50% stake in The Economist Group or its London property. The companies expect the deal to be finalized in the fourth quarter.

“‘Pearson has been a proud proprietor of the FT for nearly 60 years. But we’ve reached an inflection point in media, driven by the explosive growth of mobile and social,’ Pearson CEO John Fallon said in a statement. ‘In this new environment, the best way to ensure the FT’s journalistic and commercial success is for it to be part of a global, digital news company.’

“FT Group had 24 million pounds of operating profit in 2014, or about $37.3 million. Sales totaled about 334 million pounds, or $519 million.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.