Japan's Nikkei Inc has agreed to buy the Financial Times Group from Pearson PLC for 844 million pounds (1.3 billion dollars), the companies said on Thursday, according to dpa. "I am extremely proud of teaming up with the Financial Times, one of the most prestigious news organizations in the world," said Tsuneo Kita, Nikkei's chairman. "Our motto of providing high-quality reporting on economic and other news, while maintaining fairness and impartiality, is very close to that of the FT," Kita said. The sale includes the FT group's newspaper, website and related publications. But the FT's London office building and its 50-percent share of the Economist Group, which publishes the Economist magazine, are not included in the deal. John Fallon, Pearson's chief executive, said Nikkei had "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," Fallon said. Total circulation of the FT's print and digital editions soared by more than 30 per cent to 737,000 over the last five years, while sales rose to 334 million pounds in 2014, the companies said. The FT's digital circulation is now 70 per cent of total circulation, up from 24 per cent in 2010, with half of its website traffic driven by mobile access, they said. Nikkei, which produces financial and business news in Japanese, English and Chinese, said it has 430,000 digital subscribers. It claims to be Asia's largest independent business media group, with a flagship Nikkei newspaper, book and magazine publishing, digital media, broadcasting and other events. "Economic and business news is expected to gain more prominence in the digital age," the Japanese company said. "By making use of their strengths in digital media, the two companies intend to undertake a range of major projects," it said. Fallon said Pearson had 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," he said. "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 said it planned to use funds from the sale to support its global education business. Nikkei also agreed to contribute around 90 million pounds to the Pearson group pension plan following completion of the deal, Pearson said. The deal remains subject to regulatory approval and is expected to be finalised by the end of this year, it said. Rising speculation before the announcement of the deal caused Pearson's shares to jump more than 2 per cent in London on Thursday.
