Japan’s largest business newspaper, Nikkei has struck a $ 1.3 billion deal with Pearson, to buy Financial Times. The agreement will help the publisher expand its global reach with the assistance of a well-recognised and highly respected brand, and also give it access to the Times’ stable and advanced digital readers.
The deal, struck after Nikkei beat Germany's Axel Springer to the prize, marks the biggest acquisition by a Japanese media organization and is a coup for the employee-owned firm which will lend its name to the main Japanese stock market index.
Established in 1884 and first printed on pink paper in 1893 to stand out from rivals, the FT has employed some of the leading figures in media and politics, including Robert Thomson, Chief Executive of News Corp, former British finance minister Nigel Lawson and Ed Balls, an adviser to former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. “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.”
“I am extremely proud of teaming up with the Financial Times, one of the most prestigious news organizations in the world," said Tsuneo Kita, chairman and group CEO of Nikkei. "We share the same journalistic values. Together, we will strive to contribute to the development of the global economy.”
The sale of the FT Group is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2015 and does not include its 50 per cent stake in The Economist magazine or the London headquarters of the newspaper on the banks of the River Thames.
