Nikkei Acquired Financial Times Group

Japan's Nikkei announced November 30 acquisition of London-based  Financial Times from its parent company Pearson to constitute the world's top financial media group in total circulation.

Earlier in July Nikkei agreed with the FT Group on its purchase of its entire share for 844 million pounds and acquired approval from the antimonopoly authorities of both Britain and the United States. Nikkei and the Financial Times now boast an added circulation of 2.97 million or twice the size of that of the US Wall Street Journal.

The Financial Times is reputed for global economic journalism read broadly in Europe and the United States.

Nikkei and the Financial Times enjoy a longtime association throughout the postwar years sharing common journalistic values. In recent years, both have nurtured affinity to the point of sharing common strategies in journalism leading to the birth of the Nikkei FT Group this time.

New journalistic media emerging in an age of IT, the newspaper's only path to survival is quality - how to make available quality contents that are not available free on the internet.

Commenting on the acquisition of the Financial Times this time, Tsuneo Kita, Chairman and CEO of Nikkei, said:

"We are honored to have the Financial Times as a member of the Nikkei family. We both share the common mission to make available trustworthy, insightful journalism. I'm sure our partnership will contribute to the world's top-class business media".

John Ridding, Chief Executive of the Financial Times, responded:

"Our partnership with Nikkei marks the start of a fresh chapter for the Financial Times. We share a common belief in the value and importance of quality journalism. I strongly believe our partnership with Nikkei will further drive the FT's global expansion".