British publisher Pearson to sell Financial Times to Nikkei

British publisher Pearson has decided to sell the Financial Times newspaper to a global, digital news company, a person familiar with the deal said on Thursday.

British publisher Pearson on Thursday said it had agreed to sell its flagship business daily, Financial Times, to Japanese media group Nikkei.

File photo of Financial Times newspaper, which is on the brink of being sold off by Pearson. (Reuters Photo)

Pearson said it was selling FT Group, which includes also FT.com, for £844 million ($1.31 billion) in cash. The agreement does not include FT Group's 50% stake in The Economist Group, owner of The Economist magazine.

Nikkei describes itself as the largest independent business media group in Asia.

The group, which has owned the salmon pink-paged newspaper for nearly 60 years, is due to report results on Friday.