Financial Times

Financial Times
Cover of the 22 February 2021 issue
TypeDaily newspaper
Format
Owner(s)The Financial Times Ltd.
(Nikkei Inc.)
Founder(s)James Sheridan
EditorRoula Khalaf
Deputy editorPatrick Jenkins
Founded9 January 1888; 136 years ago (1888-01-09)
Political alignmentLiberalism[1]
Conservative liberalism[2]
Centre[3] to centre-right[4]
LanguageEnglish
HeadquartersBracken House
London, England
Circulation109,181 (as of March 2024)[5]
Sister newspapersNikkei Asia
ISSN0307-1766
Websitewww.ft.com Edit this at Wikidata

The Financial Times (FT) is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikkei, with core editorial offices across Britain, the United States and continental Europe. In July 2015, Pearson sold the publication to Nikkei for £844 million (US$1.32 billion) after owning it since 1957. In 2019, it reported one million paying subscriptions, three-quarters of which were digital subscriptions.[6][7] In 2023, it was reported to have 1.3 million subscribers of which 1.2 million were digital.[8] The newspaper has a prominent focus on financial journalism and economic analysis rather than generalist reporting, drawing both criticism and acclaim. It sponsors an annual book award and publishes a "Person of the Year" feature.

The paper was founded in January 1888 as the London Financial Guide before rebranding a month later as the Financial Times. It was first circulated around metropolitan London by James Sheridan, who, along with his brother and Horatio Bottomley, sought to report on city business opposite the Financial News. The succeeding half-century of competition between the two papers eventually culminated in a 1945 merger, led by Brendan Bracken, which established it as one of the largest business newspapers in the world.

Globalisation from the late 19th to mid-20th centuries facilitated editorial expansion for the FT, with the paper adding opinion columns, special reports, political cartoons, readers' letters, book reviews, technology articles and global politics features. The paper is often characterised by its light-pink (salmon) newsprint. It is supplemented by its lifestyle magazine (FT Magazine), weekend edition (FT Weekend) and some industry publications.

The editorial stance of the Financial Times centres on economic liberalism, particularly advocacy of free trade and free markets. Since its founding, it has supported liberal democracy, favouring classically liberal politics and policies from international governments; its newsroom is independent from its editorial board, and it is considered a newspaper of record. Due to its history of economic commentary, the FT publishes a variety of financial indices, primarily the FTSE All-Share Index. Since the late 20th century, its typical depth of coverage has linked the paper with a white-collar, educated, and financially literate readership.[9][10] Because of this tendency, the FT has traditionally been regarded as a centrist[11] to centre-right[12] liberal,[13] neo-liberal,[14] and conservative-liberal[2] newspaper. The Financial Times is headquartered in Bracken House at 1 Friday Street, near the city's financial centre, where it maintains its publishing house, corporate centre, and main editorial office.

  1. ^ "Financial Times | eurotopics.net". eurotopics.net (BPB). Archived from the original on 6 December 2022. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  2. ^ a b Kirchhelle, Claas, ed. (2020). Pyrrhic Progress: The History of Antibiotics in Anglo-American Food Production. Rutgers University Press. p. 1927. ISBN 978-0-8135-9149-0. Enthusiastic reports subsequently appeared in the left-leaning Observer and the conservative-liberal Financial Times.
  3. ^ "Black and White and Read All over: A Guide to British Newspapers". oxford-royale.com. 28 March 2018. Archived from the original on 17 March 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  4. ^ Christina Schaeffner, ed. (2009). Political Discourse, Media and Translation. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-4438-1793-6. With regard to political affiliation The Daily Telegraph is a right-wing paper, The Times centre-right, The Financial Times centre-right and liberal, and The Guardian centre-left.
  5. ^ "Financial Times". Audit Bureau of Circulations. 13 February 2024. Archived from the original on 19 September 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  6. ^ "FT tops one million paying readers". Financial Times. April 2019. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
  7. ^ Greenslade, Roy (14 April 2019). "Financial Times thrives by focusing on subscriptions". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
  8. ^ Guaglione, Sara (28 September 2023). "Financial Times targets U.S. and global readers with subscription app products". Digiday. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  9. ^ Plunkett, John; Martinson, Jane (24 July 2015). "Financial Times sold to Japanese media group Nikkei for £844m". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 23 May 2020. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  10. ^ Kynaston, David (1988). "A Brief History of the Financial Times" (PDF). Viking Adult. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 February 2021. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  11. ^ Rawlinson, Francis, ed. (2020). How Press Propaganda Paved the Way to Brexit. Springer Nature. p. 65. ISBN 978-3-030-27765-9.
  12. ^ Schaeffner, Christina, ed. (2009). Political Discourse, Media and Translation. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-4438-1793-6. With regard to political affiliation The Daily Telegraph is a right-wing paper, The Times centre-right, The Financial Times centre-right and liberal, and The Guardian centre-left.
  13. ^ Essvale Corporation Limited, ed. (2007). Business Knowledge for IT in Retail Banking: A Complete Handbook for IT Professionals. Essvale Corporation Limited. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-9554124-2-4. The Financial Times is normally seen as centre-right/liberal, although to the left of its principal competitor, The Wall Street Journal. It advocates free markets and is generally in favour of globalisation.
  14. ^ Morgan, Kevin; Marsden, Terry; Murdoch, Jonathan (2006). Worlds of Food: Place, Power, and Provenance in the Food Chain. Oxford University Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-19-155662-3. The neo-liberal Financial Times was outraged by the Farm Bill's 'grotesque farm subsidies' and it accused Washington of having 'surrendered to protectionism', while the heads of the WTO, World Bank, and the IMF penned a joint protest ...