The owner of the Financial Times on Tuesday denied it was planning to dump the business newspaper after earlier reports suggested it was “planning to explore a sale”.
Media wire Bloomberg reported that British media group Pearson was sounding out a private sale and that the company “has decided to consider offers for the newspaper this year”.
Pearson released a statement within an hour, saying it was “not in the habit of responding to rumours, speculation or reports about our portfolio”. It added: “However, this particular Bloomberg story is wrong.”
According to reports, Pearson is looking to offload the £1 billion ($1.6 billion, 1.2 billion euros) valued company within months in order to focus on its fast-growing education division.
Chief Executive Majorie Scardino has said the paper would only be sold “over my dead body” but analysts have been predicting a sale since she announced her retirement on October 3.
Successor John Fallon has refused to rule out a sale of the paper, which has suffered from declining readership.
Pearson last month agreed to merge book publishing unit Penguin with Random House in a move seen by analysts as proof that radical strategic decisions were being taken.
FT owner denies it is looking to sell
