PEARSON-MandA/FT-JAPAN REAX Japan wakes up to the purchase of the FT by its top financial newspaper

Record ID: 149478

  • Title: PEARSON-MandA/FT-JAPAN REAX Japan wakes up to the purchase of the FT by its top financial newspaper
  • Date: 24th July 2015
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (JULY 24, 2015) (REUTERS) COMMUTER STATION PEOPLE WAITING, PEOPLE WALKING NEWSPAPER KIOSK NIHON KEIZAI SHIMBUN NEWSPAPERS ON DISPLAY AT KIOSK (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 41 YEAR OLD SELF EMPLOYED, KATSUHIRO SHIRATO, SAYING: "I saw the news on television and heard of the incredibly high purchase price of 160 billion yen and it made me realise the (the Nikkei) made a
  • Embargoed: 8th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA870BJK7ACXXKXY1F04PRE4UNT
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Japanese commuters woke up on Friday (July 24) surprised at the news of Japan's top financial newspaper's purchase of the Financial Times from Britain's Pearson for $1.3 billion.
    Late on Thursday (July 23), Japanese media group Nikkei announced it had agreed to buy the Financial Times, putting one of the world's premier business newspapers in the hands of a company influential at home but little known outside.
    The deal, struck after Nikkei beat Germany's Axel Springer to the prize, marks the biggest acquisition by a Japanese media organisation and is a coup for the employee-owned firm which lends its name to the main Japanese stock market index.
    The price tag took many by surprise.
    "I saw the news on television and heard of the incredibly high purchase price of 160 billion yen and it made me realise the (the Nikkei) made an incredible decision," said 41-year-old self-employed Katsuhiro Shirato.
    The purchase also left many puzzled as to what benefits the venerable Japanese newspaper would reap.
    "It's not about the buy out or the price tag and whether it was reasonable or not. And what they are going to do with the money. It's about what benefits they (the Nikkei) will get out of it. I can't seem to see any," said 61-year-old taxi driver Kazuya Kamiyama.
    The Financial Times is considered an authoritative global newspaper that commands strong loyalty from its readers and has coped better than others with the shift to online publishing. It was one of the first newspapers to successfully charge for access to its website.
    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.
    Japanese top government spokesman said it signaled a change in the Japanese media industry.
    "It appears the waves of economic globalisation have reached the Japanese media industry," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Friday.
    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 paper, with its deep ties to corporate Japan, has also faced criticism for running earnings "previews", which are considered to be leaks, days ahead of corporate results at a time when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government has been pushing for greater corporate transparency.
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