In July 2015, the Financial Times Group and the same-name edition were put up for sale and bought by the Japanese company Nikkei for £844 million ($1.3 billion). We propose to find out what is the reason for this step.

One of the most important reasons is the lack of effort and time to maintain the work of the publication, its development and improvement. The Pearson publisher, until the time of the sale owning the Financial Times (FT), is confident that it will be calmer without it, and the company will be able to devote more time to the main business - educational. This direction brings Pearson 90% profit. In addition, the former head of the publishing house is sure that they pass the FT in good hands: Nikkei Inc. - the largest Japanese media corporation, which produces a popular economic newspaper, as well as a number of publications on business and finance.

The second reason for the sale is consistent with the first one: the former owners of the Financial Times have 50% of the assets of the Economist Group, 47% of the Penguin publishing house, and Pearson produces training materials.

The next reason is the decrease in the FT print runs. Recently, the publishing house does not print more than 69,000 copies. Although Pearson calls the figure of the Financial Times circulation about 720,000, 70% of this number are subscribers on the site. The total international circulation of the edition is about 140 thousand copies.

The new owner of the FT - the Nikkei company - promises to preserve the traditions of the publication and freedom of speech. In their speech, the company's representatives stressed that the editorial independence is the key to success and the important value of the Financial Times brand, especially since over the 120-year history the FT has become one of the most influential economic publications of the planet, which is still an authority in the business circles of the UK and a symbol of independent journalism.