Nikkei buys Financial Times for $1.29 bn

Pearson plans to focus on education publishing business and exit its media properties

Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei said on Thursday it is buying Financial Times from UK based publishing group Pearson PLC for 160 billion yen, or $1.29 billion. This follows intense speculation by various media outlets on the sale. Pearson earlier on Thursday confirmed it was in advanced talks over the possible sale of the FT Group, which includes the Financial Times newspaper, but the potential buyer was not disclosed. 

Earlier, Financial Times had itself reported about the sale but said German newspaper group Axel Springer is in the lead to buy the group. 

In 2014, FT Group contributed £334m of sales and £24m of adjusted operating income to Pearson. At 30 June 2015, FT Group had gross assets of approximately £250m. The agreement does not include FT Group’s London property at One Southwark Bridge and Pearson’s 50% stake in The Economist Group. The transaction is subject to a number of regulatory approvals and is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2015.

Speaking on the deal, John Fallon, Pearson’s chief executive, said: “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. 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. Pearson will now be 100% focused on our global education strategy. The world of education is changing profoundly and we see huge opportunity to grow our business through increasing access to high quality education globally.

Nikkei has a long and distinguished track record of quality, impartiality and reliability in its journalism and global viewpoint. The Board and I are confident that the FT will continue to flourish under Nikkei’s ownership”.
 

Nieman lab had earlier reported that if Pearson actually manages to sell FT at such a high price, it would come in at more than 16 times the FT’s earnings. This Neiman says would be an astounding number for a newspaper property in these still-transforming times.

Bloomberg had reported that the newspaper may draw interest from media companies such as Axel Springer SE as well as investors in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. 

The likely exit of Pearsons from FT has been reported many times in the past but has met with strong denials from the publishing house.

Reuters has attributed the sale of FT to Pearson's change in strategy that wants to focus solely on its education publishing segment and exit the media sector.

FT's total circulation is around 7,20,000 across print and online with digital contributing 70% of the total paying audience. The paper came into existence in 1888 and the Pearson group bought the publication in 1957.