ECONOMIST OUTLOOK: Days after Pearson announced it will sell The Financial Times for £844 million (approximately US $1.3 billion), the publisher confirmed rumors that it is looking for buyers for its 50 percent stake in the The Economist Group (which publishes The Economist). The Financial Times sources say Pearson's stake is worth around £400 million but media companies including Bloomberg and Reuters are taking a pass. Quartz notes the other half of the company is controlled by a "baroque ownership structure" that includes automobile, banking and chocolate dynasties—and that any group that buys Pearson's stake will not have much editorial or management control.
