Categories: OLD Media Moves

Pearson CEO departure could lead to FT sale

Pearson Chief Executive Marjorie Scardino will step down after 16 years, potentially clearing the way for her successor at the global educational and media group to sell the Financial Times newspaper.

Kate Holton of Reuters writes, “Both Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters have been linked with a purchase of the FT Group in the last year but analysts note that Pearson has a strong balance sheet and would only need to sell the FT if it needed the money for a large and transformational deal.

“Although the FT Group has succeeded in growing digital sales and subscription revenues, a sale of the title would still fit with the group’s wider strategy of moving away from volatile advertising revenues.

“Investors could also question the future of the book group Penguin within the wider firm as some analysts believe it also fails to support the growth of the dominant education division.

“Scardino, one of the longest serving bosses of a FTSE company, transformed a diverse set of assets into a successful global educational and media business.”

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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.