Financial Times bid weighed up by Bloomberg
NEW York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is weighing up whether to make a bid for The Financial Times Group, which includes the namesake paper and a half interest in The Economist magazine, the New York Times reported, citing three people close to the mayor.
Pearson, the publisher of FT, is about to lose two of its top executives, raising speculation the paper could be up for sale.
Analysts value The Financial Times Group at about $1.2bn, well within the reach of Bloomberg LP, which in 2011 had revenue of $7.6bn, the paper said.
One media banker with knowledge of the company expects the paper to be sold around early next year, the New York Times said.
Factions within Bloomberg LP have argued that it would be smarter to buy a digital property, pointing to the website LinkedIn as an example.
Daniel Doctoroff, a confidant of Bloomberg and the chief executive of the company, is said to be particularly skeptical about the value of buying a newspaper, the paper said.
A spokesman for the mayor declined to comment to the New York Times on his conversations about the Financial Times paper.
The chief executive of the Financial Times Group stepped down at the end of last month, fuelling speculation of a sell-off.
Rona Fairhead – who spent 12 years at Pearson, and six as head of the FT Group – departs after missing out on the CEO position at the publisher following the appointment of John Fallon as Marjorie Scardino’s successor.