John Elkann has always loved publishing, ever since his grandfather, the lawyer Gianni Agnelli, sent him in his youth when he was studying Engineering at the Turin Polytechnic to learn how to make a newspaper in the Turin editorial office of La Stampa, owned of the family. It is therefore not surprising that Exor, of which Elkann is chairman, has confirmed the negotiations with Pearson to increase its stake, now at 5%, in the prestigious British economic weekly The Economist.
After selling the Financial Times to the Japanese Nikkei, Pearson wants to sell 50% of the Economist, a stake that Exor does not plan to take over entirely but which could offer Elkann the opportunity to double its stake from 5 to 10%. .
Even now, the Agnelli group's holdings in publishing consist of 16,7% of RCS (through FCA), and 77% of Editrice Italiana, the company born from the merger between La Stampa and Il Secolo XIX of Genoa. It should also be remembered that, in a personal capacity, John Elkann sits on the board of News Corp, Murdoch's group.
