Nikkei buys the Financial Times

Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei has purchased the Financial Times for $1.29 billion from Pearson, the company announced on July 23. Pearson chief executive John Fallon said the media is at an "inflection point" which led to the decision to sell the salmon-colored newspaper. "Pearson has been a proud proprietor of the FT for nearly 60 years. But we've reached an inflection point in media, driven by the explosive growth of mobile and social," Fallon said. "In this new environment, the best way to ensure the FT's journalistic and commercial success is for it to be a part of a global, digital news company." Fallon went on to say that the sale will allow Pearson, mostly an education-focused company, to focus solely on their education strategy. Nikkei chairman and CEO Tsuneo Kita said in a statement they are "extremely proud" to acquire FT.