PEARSON-MandA/FINANCIAL TIMES Japan's Nikkei buys Financial Times in 1.3 bln US dollar deal

Record ID: 149476

  • Title: PEARSON-MandA/FINANCIAL TIMES Japan's Nikkei buys Financial Times in 1.3 bln US dollar deal
  • Date: 23rd July 2015
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (RECENT - JULY 15, 2015) (REUTERS) INTERIOR OF TOKYO STOCK EXCHANGE ELECTRONIC STOCK BOARD BEING UPDATED VARIOUS OF STAFF WORKING INSIDE TOKYO STOCK EXCHANGE ROTATING STOCK PRICE TICKER LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JULY 23, 2015) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARKET ANALYST AT IG, CHRIS BEAUCHAMP, SAYING: "Like all news organisations it has slimmed down
  • Embargoed: 7th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2NWEDUP4660VFERE7QEO4QCO9
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Business daily the Financial Times was bought by Japanese media group Nikkei from British company Pearson on Thursday (July 23).
    The $1.3 billion deal marks the biggest acquisition by a Japanese media organisation and is a coup for Nikkei.
    Before the deal with Nikkei was announced, it had been reported that the 171-year-old Pearson had finally decided to sell the business daily as it expanded more into education.
    Pearson had owned the paper for nearly 60 years.
    "To finally part company with the voice of London's financial sector does represent a big departure for the firm. The FT seemed to sit very well within Pearson's stable of companies and certainly we know that previous editors were determined that there was no way the FT was being sold, and that's now a major departure from previous views of the situation," IG market analyst Chris Beauchamp said.
    The sale does not include the FT Group's 50 percent stake in The Economist magazine, nor the London headquarters of the newspaper on the banks of the River Thames.
    Beauchamp identified the newspaper's unique position within the British media landscape.
    "It has certainly acquired a distinctly English bent to it really, the FT over the last 60 years, and understandable really. So I think you might begin to see a shift in some of its coverage. Also maybe in the tone as well. Certainly the FT has been the leader of the voice of the sort of pro-European element in British politics and that may start to evolve slightly differently if you have a new owner," he said.
    Thursday's deal brings together two leading financial news operations from Europe and Asia.
    The Nikkei newspaper, which has a circulation surpassing 3 million for its morning edition alone, enjoys a must-read reputation for financial and business news in Japan but has struggled to break out of its home market.
    The Nikkei Asian Review, an English-language business journal, is another of its other main publications.
    Nikkei is an employee-owned firm which also lends its name to the main Japanese stock market index, the Nikkei 225.
    In a joint statement, Pearson said it believed the time was right for the FT, which was first printed on pink paper in 1893 to stand out from rival titles, to be part of a global, digital news company.
    Yet IG's Beauchamp didn't feel that radical changes at the FT were imminent.
    "Like all news organisations it has slimmed down quite considerably over the last few years and that paywall continues to provide the steady income it needs. I don't think anyone's looking to make radical changes just yet. It fits what it does very very well, and a desire I think from any new owner not to change that current policy," he said.
    Analysts and bankers had been waiting for years for Pearson to sell the trophy asset.
    A person familiar with the situation had recently suggested to Reuters that Germany's Axel Springer was working on a buyout.
    Another name previously closely linked with a deal was Bloomberg.
    The sale of the FT Group to Nikkei is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2015.
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