Pearson denies plans to sell Financial Times

Pearson Plc, the publisher of Penguin books, has denied it is planning to sell the Financial Times newspaper in order to focus on its core education business, as reported by Bloomberg yesterday, citing people with knowledge of the situation.

Reacting to Bloomberg's report, Charles Goldsmith, a spokesman for Pearson said, ''We have said many times that the FT is a valued and valuable part of Pearson. We are not in the habit of responding to rumours, speculation or reports about our portfolio, however this particular Bloomberg story is wrong.''

Speculation of a possible divestement of the respected financial daily have been in circulation for some time and surfaced a week after Pearson agreed to merge its Penguin books unit with Germany's Bertelsmann SE's Random House to create the largest book publisher in the UK and the US (See: Penguin, Random House in £2.4-bn merger pact).http://www.domainb.com/industry/Publishing/20121029_penguin.html

Analysts had said that the deal was an indication that Pearson planned to focus on its growing education business.

The Bloomberg report said that Pearson has not yet hired an investment bank to advise on the sale, but may start the sale process before the exit of Marjorie Scardino, the company's CEO, who is stepping down in January 2012.

Her departure raised questions over whether the Financial Times Group, which owns the newspaper also owns a 50-per cent stake in The Economist, would be sold.