Pearson to Sell Financial Times and Focus exclusively on ‘Global Education Strategy’

Nikkei’s flagship Nihon Keizai Shimbun dominates business and financial news coverage in Japan, assigning multiple reporters to cover each of the country’s biggest companies.

REUTERS/Alessia PierdomenicoJapanese media company Nikkei Inc.is buying the Financial Times as part of an 844 million-pound ($1.3 billion) deal with Britain’s Pearson PLC.

The deal is subject to a number of regulatory approvals.

The sale does not include Pearson’s frequently coveted 50% share in the Economist group or the FT’s headquarters building by the Thames in London.

Pearson said circulation at the FT – founded in 1888 – had grown by 30% over the past five years to 737,000.

“By acquiring the FT, a strong brand among Anglosphere readers, the Japanese company hopes to strengthen its footing in the market for Asian business news”, an article posted Friday on the Nikkei’s English website said.

Mr Fallon said: “Pearson will now be 100pc focused on our global education strategy”. ‘We share the same journalistic values.

Nikkei Group CEO Tsuneo Kita said: “Our motto of providing high-quality reporting on economic and other news, while maintaining fairness and impartiality, is very close to that of the FT“. “The new education products and services we’re developing which will enable far more people of all ages to discover the joy of learning and progress in their careers”.

A sale of FT Group would allow Fallon to focus on tackling a slowdown in the education unit weighed on by declining U.S. college enrolments and falling textbook sales. The Japanese outbid Germany’s Axel Springer “with an eleventh hour offer”, says the FT.

It didn’t give any information on its search for a new chairman following the announcement in April that Glen Moreno, is stepping down this year after almost a decade in the role.

Analysis of FT’s new owners Nikkei are cut from the same template. Rothschild Group acted as financial advisers to Nikkei on this transaction, noted Pearson.

“I’m anxious that the Financial Times could become like the Nikkei, and I hope that will not be the case”, said Goushi Kataoka, an economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research.

The Financial Times grew its circulation in 2014 by 10% year-over-year to nearly 720,000 across print and online. As a result, it has sold various business assets, including French media group Les Echos.