Lionel Laurent of Forbes writes Tuesday about how a slowing U.S. economy could negatively impact The Financial Times.
Laurent noted that French billionaire Bernard Arnault, owner of Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey, is also interested in purchasing the newspaper.
Laurent wrote, “But the issue of the Financial Times does have an effect on Pearson shareholders, especially since last summer’s acquisition of Dow Jones by Rupert Murdoch‘s News Corp. The worry is that the salmon-colored pages of the F.T., let alone the subscriber base of FT.com, will not be able to compete against Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal or the Fox Business Network. (See “Has Pearson Lost Britain’s Media Wars?”)
“‘The Financial Times is doing very well,’ said a spokesman for Pearson Tuesday. ‘Circulation growth has been clear throughout the year. Advertising growth has been strong throughout the year.’
“The Financial Times itself reported last week that Pearson was poised to sell its stake in German sister paper FT Deutschland, despite a clear ‘no comment’ from the company. Given that Pearson has offloaded the brand in France and Spain, pressure could build once more for a sale of the core British publication.”
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