Wordblog

Pressure on Pearson to sell the Financial Times is mounting following the failure of their scheme to bid for Dow Jones in conjunction with General Electric.

With Rupert Murdoch’s bid for Dow Jones, parent of the Wall Street Journal, looking increasingly likely to succeed, Pearson shareholders fear the prospect of FT facing stiffer competition. Many of them were already feeling that the FT should be sold to allow Pearson to concentrate on its huge educational publishing business.

The prospect of global competition between the two heavyweight business papers is worrying them. Media Analyst Lordna Tilbian told the Observer:

The way I see things, it was double or quits for Pearson. They had a chance to buy a principal competitor, but it hasn’t come off. Now they should sell the FT at a time when the financial advertising market is strong and the paper is doing well.
There is a danger that Murdoch will do to the FT what his newspapers in Britain have done to their competitors. Look at what the Times has done to the Telegraph or the Sun to the Mirror. The competition has been harsh. Does Pearson want that?

Without the enthusiastic support shareholders, it would certainly be harder for the FT to mount a counter-offensive against whatever Murdoch is planning. And there would be a lot of people out there who would like to own the FT and some may relish a fight with News Corp.