Less than a day after Bloomberg reported that the Financial Times was on the auction block, the newspaper appears to have found a buyer: Axel Springer, the Berlin-based media conglomerate that recently went into business with Politico.
According to the report, Pearson LLC is “in advanced talks” to sell the bisque-colored newspaper to Axel Springer. Earlier Thursday, the Financial Times said Pearson was contemplating a sale to a “global digital news company.”
After news of the possible sale broke Wednesday, media reporters began speculating on a possible buyer for the Financial Times. Writing for Politico, Dylan Byers suggested Bloomberg LP honcho Michael Bloomberg as a possible suitor for the paper, noting that he has considered the idea before. Media analyst Ken Doctor also mentioned Bloomberg as a potential buyer, but also noted Axel Springer and Thomson Reuters could be in the market for the paper.
When news of the sale broke Thursday, Bloomberg speculated that Pearson’s decision to let go of the paper might be due in part to a slackening of the U.S. market for its educational products.
