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Business News Deals Media
Pearson completes its bail on news publishing by selling its stake in The Economist
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 13 August 2015
Following its sale of the mighty Financial Times to Japanese media firm Nikkei last month, publishing and education company Pearson yesterday confirmed it had now sold the 50% stake it also owned in The Economist Group. That stake was actually held via The FT Group subsidiary, but was not part of the Nikkei deal.
Though we knew talks were underway for Pearson to sell its shares in The Economist magazine and its spin off ventures as soon as the FT deal had been confirmed, it having decided to withdraw from news publishing altogether. Though there is no new player involved in this deal, Pearson having sold its shares to other existing shareholders in The Economist Group in a deal worth £469 million.
That said, Exor, an investment outfit led by Fiat heir John Elkann, does increase its stake in the Economist company from 4.7% to 43.4% as part of the deal, making it the single largest shareholder in the company. Though Exor has agreed to cap its voting rights at 20%.
