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Pearson sells ‘Financial Times’, focusing on education business

Pearson has sold the FT Group, which includes the Financial Times (FT), to Japanese newspaper and magazine publisher Nikkei Inc for £844m (A$1780m), reports the Bookseller. Pearson CEO John Fallon said the FT’s ‘explosive’ mobile and digital growth meant that ‘the best way to ensure the FT’s journalistic and commercial success is for it to be part of a global, digital news company’. Fallon said Pearson would now be ‘100% focused’ on its ‘global educational strategy’, noting that education and journalism ‘are not the same thing and require different skills, capabilities and intensity of focus’. ‘We see huge opportunity to grow our business through increasing access to high quality education globally’, said Fallon. In 2014, Pearson reported sales of £334m (A$705m) and adjusted operating income of £24m (A$51m) for the FT Group. The sale to Nikkei Inc does not include the FT Group’s London property and Pearson’s 50% share in the Economist Group.

 

Category: International news