Aaron Patrick and Marcus Walker of The Wall Street Journal write Tuesday that Pearson, the parent company of The Financial Times, is negotiating to sell its stake in a German business newspaper.
Patrick and Walker wrote, “Over the years, some investors have called on Pearson to concentrate on its larger educational and book-publishing businesses and sell the Financial Times. Pearson Chief Executive Marjorie Scardino has long said she doesn’t want to sell the paper.
“‘When I go to China and want to see the minister of education, he sees me not because I’m the world’s biggest education business but because I’m the owner of the FT,’ she said in July.
“A Pearson spokesman couldn’t be reached for comment. News of the talks was first reported in Handelsblatt, a German newspaper.
“A person familiar with the matter said that Spiegel and Gruner Jahr would be allowed to retain the FT name and that journalists at the Financial Times and Financial Times Deutschland would continue to cooperate.”
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