Thursday, July 23, 2015

Pearson Sells Financial Times

Pearson's having an eventful summer so far, getting passed over for testing contracts, selling newspapers, that sort of thing:


Japanese media group Nikkei has agreed to buy the Financial Times from Britain's Pearson (PSON.L) for $1.3 billion, putting one of the world's premier business newspapers in the hands of a company influential at home but little known outside Japan.

The deal, struck after Nikkei beat Germany's Axel Springer (SPRGn.DE) to the prize, marks the biggest acquisition by a Japanese media organization and is a coup for the employee-owned firm which lends its name to the main Japanese stock market index.

In the Financial Times it has acquired 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.

...


Reporters at the paper told Reuters there was some apprehension, as they knew very little about their new owner, but there was also relief they had not been bought by Bloomberg - another potential buyer - which could have resulted in duplication of staff roles and more potential job cuts.

Chief Executive John Fallon told reporters he believed that like Pearson, the new owner had a commitment to the "fairness and accuracy of its reporting, and to the integrity and independence of its journalism".


Pearson still has 50% of The Economist and 47% of Penguin Random House.

Here's their public strategy around the sale:

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.

Interesting that they see this "huge opportunity" to grow the business as the anger and hostility many parents and educators feel toward Pearson has been growing to a crescendo.

2 comments:

  1. "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".

    Pearson "100%" focused?

    Global education "strategy"?

    We see huge opportunity?

    Grow our business through increasing access?

    High quality education globally???

    These people should not only be stripped of their power, their assets, their funds, their lobbyist "skills".

    They should be marched one at a time to face capital punishment for their criminal activities against children all over the world.

    And their punishments should be carried out in the public eye.

    They are the harbingers of all that is evil...they are unfit to live amongst humanity.

    They must be destroyed so that civilization may continue to exist.

    ReplyDelete
  2. There is quite a list of entities and people that fit the above category for criminal activity against humanity.
    I look forward to seeing their day come.

    ReplyDelete