Nikkei vows to respect FT culture
Print Edition
NIKKEI Inc, the Japanese buyer of the Financial Times, pledged yesterday to respect the culture of the London-based business daily, while also tapping its digital expertise and global reach.
“The FT will remain the FT. Nikkei is Nikkei,” said Naotoshi Okada, president and CEO of Nikkei Inc, which publishes a namesake newspaper that’s the top business daily in Japan. “The editorial cultures will be respected. If there are any problems, we will talk them out.”
Like many Japanese companies, Nikkei is looking overseas for growth in the face of a stagnant economy and shrinking population at home, a move accelerated for the 139-year-old newspaper by the globalization of media and competitive pressures as readers shift online.
The announcement on Thursday that Nikkei would buy the FT for US$1.3 billion from Pearson PLC could jump-start Nikkei’s overseas push, if it can realize synergies between two of the world’s leading financial publications.
Okada said the purchase fits in with Nikkei’s strategy of beefing up its overseas coverage, especially in Asia.
Nikkei launched a new English-language website and weekly magazine in late 2013 in a bid to become a purveyor of Asian news for business readers globally. It also opened an editorial headquarters in Bangkok.
“Up to now we have focused on relaying Japanese news for Japanese readers,” Okada said at a news conference. With Japanese companies expanding in Asia, “we cannot respond to readers’ demands with only coverage of Japan.”
He also said the FT has a more advanced digital infrastructure than Nikkei, which is trying to grow its online presence.
The Nikkei newspaper dominates business coverage in Japan, with 3.16 million paid subscribers, of which 430,000 are online. It also runs the Nikkei 225 index, a barometer for Japanese stocks.
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