Categories: OLD Media Moves

Pearson CFO won’t rule out sale of Financial Times

Pearson Plc said Wednesday it wouldn’t rule out a sale of the Financial Times as Chief Financial Officer Robin Freestone told investors that the company may eventually re-examine its ownership of the newspaper.

Amy Thomson and Kristen Schweizer of Bloomberg News report, “‘We look at the ownership of that and say, ‘Are we the best owners for it?’’ Freestone said at a conference in Barcelona organized by Morgan Stanley. ‘So far the answer is yes. That could change.’

“Pearson is emphasizing its education business as new Chief Executive Officer John Fallon prepares to take the reins from Marjorie Scardino, who retires in January. The company has decided to consider offers for the iconic pink financial newspaper this year, people with knowledge of the situation told Bloomberg News this month. Pearson had denied that the FT is for sale.

“Pearson may also ultimately re-evaluate its minority holding in a venture being set up with Bertelsmann SE to combine the German media company’s Random House with London-based Pearson’s Penguin publisher, Freestone said.”

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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.