This morning's Financial Times anticipates that, within a few days (perhaps already today) Pearson will announce the sale of its stake in the Economist for around 400 million pounds.
At the end of the operation, the family Rothschild and the financial company of the Agnelli house Exor they will become the two major shareholders of the weekly. Exor itself has already declared in recent days its willingness to take the capital of the newspaper but not to aspire to the majority. By statute, each operation on capital must obtain the authorization of the four trustees who supervise the independence of the publication.
Both De Rothschild and Exor will have the right to a second representative on the board where John Philipp Elkann already sits. The Economist group, which in addition to the magazine includes the Economist Intelligence Unit, CQ Roll Call and other activities, recorded operating profits of 2014 million in 60 despite the fact that revenues have been declining for three years, due to lower advertising revenues. In 2014, an expert opinion by Ernst Young estimated the value of the company at £730 million.
