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The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in
broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...
and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, 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$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
1.32 billion) after owning it since 1957. In 2019, it reported one million paying subscriptions, three-quarters of which were digital subscriptions. In 2023, it was reported to have 1.3 million subscribers of which 1.2 million were digital. 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 Horatio William Bottomley (23 March 1860 â€“ 26 May 1933) was an English financier, journalist, editor, newspaper proprietor, swindler, and Member of Parliament. He is best known for his editorship of the popular magazine ''John Bull (maga ...
, sought to report on city business opposite the ''
Financial News ''Financial News'' is a weekly financial newspaper published in London and news website, founded in 1996. It is published by eFinancial News Limited, and provides news and opinions regarding the financial services sector, and information ab ...
''. The succeeding half-century of competition between the two papers eventually culminated in a 1945 merger, led by
Brendan Bracken Brendan Rendall Bracken, 1st Viscount Bracken (15 February 1901 – 8 August 1958), was an Irish-born businessman, politician and a Minister of Information and First Lord of the Admiralty in Winston Churchill's War Cabinet. He is best remembe ...
, 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 cartoon A political cartoon, also known as an editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically co ...
s, readers' letters, book reviews, technology articles and global politics features. The paper is often characterised by its light-pink (salmon)
newsprint Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper consisting mainly of wood pulp and most commonly used to print newspapers and other publications and advertising material. Invented in 1844 by Charles Fenerty of Nova Scotia, Canada, it usually has ...
. It is supplemented by its lifestyle magazine (''
FT Magazine ''FT Magazine'', also known as ''FT Weekend Magazine'', is a supplement to the weekend edition of the ''Financial Times'' newspaper. The publication focuses on long-form narrative journalism, investigations, photography and international reportag ...
)'', weekend edition ('' FT Weekend'') and some industry publications. The editorial stance of the ''Financial Times'' centres on
economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...
, particularly advocacy of
free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...
and
free market In economics, a free market is an economic market (economics), system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of ...
s. Since its founding, it has supported
liberal democracy Liberal democracy, also called Western-style democracy, or substantive democracy, is a form of government that combines the organization of a democracy with ideas of liberalism, liberal political philosophy. Common elements within a liberal dem ...
, 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 A newspaper of record is a major national newspaper with large newspaper circulation, circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and i ...
. 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. Because of this tendency, the ''FT'' has traditionally been regarded as a
centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...
to
centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...
liberal, neo-liberal, and conservative-liberal newspaper. The ''Financial Times'' is headquartered in Bracken House at 1 Friday Street, near the city's financial centre, where it maintains its
publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
house, corporate centre, and main editorial office.


History


Origins

The ''FT'' was launched as the ''London Financial Guide'' on 10 January 1888, renaming itself the ''Financial Times'' on 13 February the same year. Describing itself as the friend of "The Honest Financier, the Bona Fide Investor, the Respectable Broker, the Genuine Director, and the Legitimate Speculator", it was a four-page journal. The readership was the financial community of the
City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...
, its only rival being the more daring and slightly older (founded in 1884) ''
Financial News ''Financial News'' is a weekly financial newspaper published in London and news website, founded in 1996. It is published by eFinancial News Limited, and provides news and opinions regarding the financial services sector, and information ab ...
''. On 2 January 1893 the ''FT'' began printing on light pink paper to distinguish it from the similarly named ''Financial News.'' The pink tint came from the pink color of the
China clay Kaolinite ( ; also called kaolin) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedron, tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen ...
they began sourcing from the Bodelva
clay pit A clay pit is a quarry or Mining, mine for the extraction of clay, which is generally used for manufacturing pottery, bricks or Portland cement. Quarries where clay is mined to make bricks are sometimes called brick pits. A brickyard or brickwor ...
near
St Austell Saint Austell (, ; ) is a town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon. At the 2021 Census in the United Kingdom, census it had a population of 20,900. History St Austell was a village centred ...
,
Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
, and at the time, it was cheaper not to bleach the paper (several other more general newspapers, such as '' The Sporting Times'', had the same policy), but nowadays it is more expensive as the paper has to be dyed specially.


Purchase by the Berry brothers

The Berry brothers, Lord Camrose and Gomer Berry (later Lord Kemsley), purchased the ''Financial Times'' in 1919.


Purchase by Brendan Bracken; merger with the ''Financial News''

In 1945,
Brendan Bracken Brendan Rendall Bracken, 1st Viscount Bracken (15 February 1901 – 8 August 1958), was an Irish-born businessman, politician and a Minister of Information and First Lord of the Admiralty in Winston Churchill's War Cabinet. He is best remembe ...
purchased the ''Financial Times'' from Lord Camrose, and, following 57 years of rivalry, merged it with the ''Financial News'' to form a single six-page newspaper. The ''Financial Times'' had a higher circulation, while the ''Financial News'' provided much of the editorial talent. The ''Lex'' column was also introduced from ''Financial News''. With this purchase and merger, Bracken is credited as being "the effective founding father of the modern ''Financial Times'', Britain’s highest quality daily newspaper."


Gordon Newton and "direct recruitment"

Gordon Newton, a Cambridge graduate, took over as editor in 1949, and immediately introduced a policy (then most unusual in
Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...
) of direct recruitment of new university graduates, mainly from Oxbridge, as its trainee journalists. Many of them proceeded to have distinguished careers elsewhere in journalism and British public life and became the mainstay of the paper's own editorial strengths until the 1990s. The first such 'direct recruit' was future leading British economist Andrew Shonfield; the second was (later Sir) William Rees-Mogg who went on, via ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
'', to edit ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' in 1967 following its acquisition by Roy Thomson. Other FT Oxbridge recruits included the future
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...
Nigel Lawson Nigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby, (11 March 1932 – 3 April 2023) was a British politician and journalist. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Member of Parliament for Blaby in Leicestershire from 1974 to 1992, and served ...
. The ''FT''s distinctive recruitment policy for Fleet Street journalists was never popular with the
National Union of Journalists The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union supporting journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The NUJ was founded in 1907 and has 20,693 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Trades ...
and ceased in 1966 following the recruitment of Richard Lambert from Oxford, himself a future Editor of the ''FT''.


Purchase by Pearson and growth into a global newspaper

Meanwhile, Pearson had bought the paper in 1957. Over the years, the paper grew in size, readership, and breadth of coverage. It established correspondents in cities around the world, reflecting a renewed impetus in the
world economy The world economy or global economy is the economy of all humans in the world, referring to the global economic system, which includes all economic activities conducted both within and between nations, including production (economics), producti ...
towards
globalisation Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...
. As cross-border trade and capital flows increased during the 1970s, the ''FT'' began international expansion, facilitated by developments in technology and the growing acceptance of English as the international language of business. On 1 January 1979 the first ''FT'' (Continental Europe edition) was printed outside the UK, in Frankfurt; printing in the U.S. began in July 1985. Since then, with increased international coverage, the ''FT'' has become a global newspaper, printed in 22 locations with five international editions to serve the UK, continental Europe, the U.S., Asia and the Middle East. The European edition is distributed throughout continental Europe and Africa. It is printed Monday to Saturday at five centres across Europe, reporting on matters concerning the European Union, the
euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...
and European corporate affairs. In 1994 ''FT'' launched a luxury lifestyle magazine, ''How To Spend It''. In 2009 it launched a standalone website for the magazine.


FT.com

On 13 May 1995 the ''Financial Times'' group made its first foray into the online world with the launch of FT.com. This provided a summary of news from around the globe, which was supplemented in February 1996 with stock price coverage. The second-generation site was launched in spring 1996. The site was funded by advertising and contributed to the online advertising market in the UK in the late 1990s. Between 1997 and 2000, the site underwent several revamps and changes of strategy, as the FT Group and Pearson reacted to the changes online. ''FT'' introduced subscription services in 2002. ''FT.com'' is one of the few UK news sites successfully funded by individual subscription. In 1997, the ''FT'' launched a U.S. edition, printed in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta, Orlando and Washington, D.C., although the newspaper was first printed outside New York City in 1985. In September 1998 the ''FT'' became the first UK-based newspaper to sell more copies internationally than within the UK. In 2000 the ''Financial Times'' started publishing a German-language edition, '' Financial Times Deutschland'', with a news and editorial team based in Hamburg. Its initial circulation in 2003 was 90,000. It was originally a joint venture with a German publishing firm,
Gruner + Jahr Gruner is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Dov Gruner (1912–1947), Jewish Zionist leader * Eduard Gruner, Swiss engineer * Elioth Gruner (1882–1939), Australian painter * Gottlieb Sigmund Gruner (1717–1778), Swiss ca ...
. In January 2008 the ''FT'' sold its 50% stake to its German partner. ''FT Deutschland'' never made a profit and is said to have accumulated losses of €250 million over 12 years. It closed on 7 December 2012. The ''Financial Times'' launched a new weekly supplement for the fund management industry on 4 February 2002. ''FT fund management'' (FTfm) was and still is distributed with the paper every Monday. FTfm is the world's largest-circulation fund management title. Since 2005 the ''FT'' has sponsored the annual ''Financial Times'' Business Book of the Year Award.


"Refreshed" ''FT''

On 23 April 2007, the ''FT'' unveiled a "refreshed" version of the newspaper and introduced a new slogan, "We Live in Financial Times". In 2007 the ''FT'' pioneered a metered paywall, which let visitors to its website read a limited number of free articles during any one month before asking them to pay. Four years later the ''FT'' launched its
HTML5 HTML5 (Hypertext Markup Language 5) is a markup language used for structuring and presenting hypertext documents on the World Wide Web. It was the fifth and final major HTML version that is now a retired World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommend ...
mobile internet app. Smartphones and tablets now drive 12% of subscriptions and 19% of traffic to FT.com. In 2012, the number of digital subscribers surpassed the circulation of the newspaper for the first time and the ''FT'' drew almost half of its revenue from subscriptions rather than advertising. The ''FT'' has been available on
Bloomberg Terminal The Bloomberg Terminal is a computer software system provided by the financial data vendor Bloomberg L.P. that enables professionals in the financial service sector and other industries to access Bloomberg Professional Services through which use ...
since 2010 and on the Wisers platform since 2013. From 2015, instead of the metered paywall on the website, visitors were given unlimited free access for one month, after which they needed to subscribe. Pearson sold the Financial Times Group to Nikkei, Inc. for £844 million (
US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
1.32 billion) in July 2015. In 2016, the ''Financial Times'' acquired a controlling stake in Alpha Grid, a London-based media company specialising in the development and production of quality branded content across a range of channels, including broadcast, video, digital, social and events. In 2018, the ''Financial Times'' acquired a controlling stake in
Longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east- west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lett ...
, a specialist provider of
thought leadership A thought leader has been described as an individual or firm recognized as an authority in a specific field. A thought leader is a person who specializes in a given area and whom others in that industry turn to for guidance. As the term implies, ...
and research services to a multinational corporate and institutional client base. This investment built on the ''Financial Times'' recent growth in several business areas, including branded content via the acquisition of Alpha Grid, and conferences and events through ''Financial Times Live'' and extends the ''FT'' traditional commercial offering into a wider set of integrated services. In 2020, reporter Mark Di Stefano resigned from the ''Financial Times'' after hacking into Zoom calls at other media organisations including ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' and the ''
Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...
''. In 2020, the retraction of an opinion piece by a reporter for the ''Financial Times'' generated a controversy about the editorial independence of the paper from outside political pressure. The controversy followed the withdrawal by the newspaper's editor of an opinion piece by ''FT'' Brussels correspondent Mehreen Khan that was critical of French President
Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...
's policy towards Muslim minorities in France. The piece was withdrawn from the ''FT'' website on the same day as its publication. President Macron subsequently published a letter in the ''FT'' directly responding to the arguments of the original opinion piece, even though the original opinion piece was no longer available on the website of the newspaper. The editor of the ''FT'', Roula Khalaf, who took the decision to withdraw the initial article, acknowledged having been contacted by the
Élysée Palace The Élysée Palace (, ) is the official residence of the President of France, President of the French Republic in Paris. Completed in 1722, it was built for Louis Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, a nobleman and army officer who had been appointed g ...
regarding the article, and defended her decision on the basis purely of several factual errors in the original piece by Mehreen Khan.


Wirecard exposé

In January 2019, the ''FT'' began a series of investigative articles detailing fraud suspicions at German payments group
Wirecard Wirecard AG is an insolvent German payment processor and financial services provider whose former Chief executive officer, CEO, Chief operating officer, COO, two Board of directors, board members, and other executives have been arrested or other ...
. When the Wirecard share price plunged, German news media speculated that
market manipulation In economics and finance, market manipulation occurs when someone intentionally alters the supply or demand of a security to influence its price. This can involve spreading misleading information, executing misleading trades, or manipulating ...
was behind this attack on a German corporate, focusing on the lead author of the ''FT'' series, Dan McCrum. The Public prosecutor's office in
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
subsequently launched an investigation. After the formal complaint of an investor, Wirecard and the German
Federal Financial Supervisory Authority The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (), better known by its abbreviation BaFin, is Germany's integrated financial regulatory authority. Since 2014, it has been Germany's national competent authority within European Banking Supervision. ...
(BaFin), the responsible state's attorney announced investigations into several ''FT'' journalists. On 22 June 2020 and after 18 months of investigations and an external audit, Wirecard announced that €1.9 billion worth of cash reported in its accounts "may not exist". The company subsequently filed for
insolvency In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet i ...
. BaFin itself became subject of a
European Securities and Markets Authority The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is an agency of the European Union located in Paris. ESMA replaced the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) on 1 January 2011. It is one of three European Supervisory Authori ...
investigation for its response to the scandal.


Fossil fuel advertising

An investigation by
the Intercept ''The Intercept'' is an American left-wing nonprofit news organization that publishes articles and podcasts online. ''The Intercept'' has published in English since its founding in 2014, and in Portuguese since the 2016 launch of the Brazilia ...
,
the Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...
, and DeSmog found that ''FT'' is one of the leading media outlets that publishes advertising for the
fossil fuel A fossil fuel is a flammable carbon compound- or hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants or microplanktons), a process that occurs within geolog ...
industry. Journalists who cover
climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
for ''FT'' are concerned that
conflicts of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations in whi ...
with the companies and industries that caused climate change and obstructed action will reduce the credibility of their reporting on climate change and cause readers to downplay the
climate crisis ''Climate crisis'' is a term that is used to describe global warming and climate change and their effects. This term and the term ''climate emergency'' have been used to emphasize the threat of global warming to Earth's natural environment an ...
.


Audience

According to the Global Capital Markets Survey, which measures readership habits among most senior financial decision makers in the world's largest financial institutions, the ''Financial Times'' is considered the most important business read, reaching 36% of the sample population, 11% more than ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' (''WSJ''), its main rival. ''
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...
'', which was once 50% owned by ''FT'', reaches 32%. ''FT'' ''
The Banker ''The Banker'' is an English-language monthly international financial affairs publication owned by '' The Financial Times'' and edited in London, United Kingdom. The magazine was first published in January 1926 through founding editor Brendan ...
'' also proved vital reading, reaching 24%. In addition, in 2010 the ''FT'' was regarded as the most credible publication in reporting financial and economic issues among the Worldwide Professional Investment Community audience. ''The Economist'' was rated the third-most-credible title by most influential professional investors, while the ''WSJ'' was second. In 2022, the ''FT'' launched FT Edit, a low-price app aimed at attracting a younger audience.


Content

The ''FT'' is split into two sections. The first section covers domestic and international news, editorial commentary on politics and economics from ''FT'' journalists such as
Martin Wolf Martin Harry Wolf (born 16 August 1946 in London) is a British journalist who focuses on economics. He is the chief economics commentator at the ''Financial Times''. He also writes a weekly column for the French newspaper ''Le Monde''. Earl ...
, Gillian Tett and Edward Luce, and opinion pieces from globally renowned leaders, policymakers, academics and commentators. The second section consists of financial data and news about companies and markets. Despite being generally regarded as primarily a financial newspaper, it does also contain TV listings, weather and other more informal articles. In 2021 and 2022, the outlet began focusing more on the cryptocurrency industry, launching a Digital Assets Dashboard, publishing multi-asset crypto indexes, starting a Cryptofinance newsletter dedicated to digital assets, and recruiting more journalists to cover the sector. About 110 of its 475 journalists are outside the United Kingdom.


The ''Lex'' column

The ''Lex'' column is a daily feature on the back page of the first section. It features analyses and opinions covering global economics and finance. The ''FT'' calls ''Lex'' its agenda-setting column. The column first appeared on Monday, 1 October 1945. The name may originally have stood for ''Lex Mercatoria'', a Latin expression meaning literally "merchant law". It was conceived by Hargreaves Parkinson for the ''Financial News'' in the 1930s, and moved to the ''Financial Times'' when the two merged. ''Lex'' boasts some distinguished alumni who have gone on to make careers in business and government—including
Nigel Lawson Nigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby, (11 March 1932 – 3 April 2023) was a British politician and journalist. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Member of Parliament for Blaby in Leicestershire from 1974 to 1992, and served ...
(former Conservative
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...
),
Richard Lambert Sir Richard Peter Lambert (born 23 September 1944) is a British journalist and business executive. He served as director-general of the CBI, chancellor of the University of Warwick, editor of the ''Financial Times'' newspaper and chairman of t ...
( CBI director and former member of the
Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...
's monetary policy committee), Martin Taylor (former chief executive of
Barclays Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...
), John Makinson (chairman and chief executive of
Penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...
), John Gardiner (former chairman of
Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...
), David Freud (former
UBS UBS Group AG (stylized simply as UBS) is a multinational investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland, with headquarters in both Zurich and Basel. It holds a strong foothold in all major financial centres as the ...
banker and Labour adviser, now a Conservative peer), John Kingman (former head of UKFI and a banker at Rothschild's), George Graham ( RBS banker), Andrew Balls (head of European portfolio management at
PIMCO Pacific Investment Management Company LLC (PIMCO) is an American investment management firm. While it has a specific focus on active fixed income management worldwide, it manages investments in many asset classes, including fixed income, share ca ...
) and
Jo Johnson Joseph Edmund Johnson, Baron Johnson of Marylebone, (born 23 December 1971) is a British politician and peer who was Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation ...
(former Conservative Member of Parliament for Orpington).


''FT Weekend''

The ''FT'' publishes a Saturday edition of the newspaper titled the ''Financial Times Weekend''. It consists of international economic and political news, ''Companies & Markets'', ''Life & Arts'', ''House & Home'' and ''
FT Magazine ''FT Magazine'', also known as ''FT Weekend Magazine'', is a supplement to the weekend edition of the ''Financial Times'' newspaper. The publication focuses on long-form narrative journalism, investigations, photography and international reportag ...
''.


''HTSI''

HTSI (originally ''How to Spend It'') is a weekly magazine published with ''FT Weekend''. Founded and launched by Julia Carrick with Lucia van der Post as founding editor, its articles concern
luxury good In economics, a luxury good (or upmarket good) is a good for which demand increases more than what is proportional as income rises, so that expenditures on the good become a more significant proportion of overall spending. Luxury goods are in con ...
s such as
yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...
s,
mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property l ...
s,
apartment An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...
s, horlogerie,
haute couture (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design. The term ''haute couture'' generally refers to a specific type of upper garment common in Europe during the 16th to the ...
and
automobiles A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...
, as well as fashion and columns by individuals in the arts, gardening, food, and hotel and travel industries. ''How to Spend It'' started in 1967 as a one-page consumer goods feature in the newspaper, which was edited by Sheila Black, the ''FT'' first female journalist, a former actor. To celebrate its 15th anniversary, ''FT'' launched the online version of this publication on 3 October 2009. Some media commentators were taken aback by the online launch of a website supporting
conspicuous consumption In sociology and in economics, the term conspicuous consumption describes and explains the consumer practice of buying and using goods of a higher quality, price, or in greater quantity than practical. In 1899, the sociologist Thorstein Veblen c ...
during the financial
austerity In economic policy, austerity is a set of Political economy, political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through Government spending, spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three prim ...
of the
late-2000s recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.
. The magazine has been derided in rival publishers' blogs, as "repellent" in the ''Telegraph'' and "a latter-day '' Ab Fab'' manual" in ''The Guardian''. A 'well-thumbed' copy of the supplement was found when rebel forces broke into Colonel Gaddafi's Tripoli compound during the
2011 Libyan Civil War The Libyan civil war, also known as the First Libyan Civil War and Libyan Revolution, was an armed conflict in 2011 in the North African country of Libya that was fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups that were ...
. In September 2021, an Arabic version of ''HTSI'' was launched by
Othman Al Omeir Othman Al Omeir (; born 1950) is a Saudi Arabia, Saudi-born British businessman, journalist and editor. He is considered to be close to several Saudi rulers, including the incumbent Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, King Salman and former rulers Kin ...
, founder of '' Elaph'' online newspaper. ''HTSI Arabic'' is published in London. The name of the magazine was changed in 2022 from ''How to Spend It'' to ''HTSI''.


Editorial stance

The ''FT'' advocates
free market In economics, a free market is an economic market (economics), system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of ...
s, and is in favour of
globalisation Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...
. During the 1980s, it supported
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
and
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
's
monetarist Monetarism is a school of thought in monetary economics that emphasizes the role of policy-makers in controlling the amount of money in circulation. It gained prominence in the 1970s, but was mostly abandoned as a direct guidance to monetary ...
policies. It has supported the UK Labour Party in the past, including at the general election in 1992 when
Neil Kinnock Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a Welsh politician who was Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 Labour Party le ...
was Labour leader. The ''FT'' editorials tend to be
pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Pol ...
. The ''FT'' was firmly opposed to the
Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...
. Due to its advocacy of free markets and free trade, it is often identified as
centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...
to
centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...
in its political positions. The modern ''FT'' is a product of a merger of two smaller newspapers in
1945 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat. Events World War II will be ...
; since that time, the paper had backed the
Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...
fairly consistently, but Labour's tacking to the centre, combined with the Conservatives' embrace of Euroscepticism, led the ''FT'' to reverse course and back Labour from
1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...
until
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
, when the ''FT'' returned to the Conservative Party. Euroscepticism further drove a wedge between the ''FT'' and the Conservatives in
2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...
, when the paper refused to make an endorsement, opposed to Labour's socialist economic policies (for wanting to "reverse, not revise, the Thatcherite revolution of the 1980s") and the Conservatives' commitment to a hard Brexit. In respect of the
Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
, FT commentator
Martin Wolf Martin Harry Wolf (born 16 August 1946 in London) is a British journalist who focuses on economics. He is the chief economics commentator at the ''Financial Times''. He also writes a weekly column for the French newspaper ''Le Monde''. Earl ...
expressed support for Ukraine. Two years before the invasion of Ukraine by
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, the FT offered an interview to the Russian President
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
. The interview received praise, as it offered an unusual access to the Russian leader's thinking. President Putin used the interview to state his opinions about the value of liberal democracy. The Ukrainian newspaper
Kyiv Post The ''Kyiv Post'' is Ukraine’s first and most prominent English-language newspaper. It was founded in 1995 in Kyiv by American businessman Jed Sunden. In 2018, the publication was acquired by prominent Ukrainian businessman Adnan Kivan, foun ...
accused the FT of asking President Putin softball questions, and said the interviewers failed to hold Putin to account.


United Kingdom politics

In the 2010 general election, the ''FT'' was receptive to the Liberal Democrats' positions on civil liberties and political reform, and praised the then Labour Party leader
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...
for his response to the
2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
, but on balance it backed the
Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...
, while questioning their tendency to
Euroscepticism Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek reform ...
. In the 2015 general election, the ''FT'' called for the continuation of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition that had governed for the previous five years. In the 2017 general election, an ''FT'' editorial reluctantly backed Conservative
Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...
over Labour
Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...
, while warning about her stance on immigration and the Eurosceptic elements in her party. The ''FT'' declared 2019 general election a "fateful election" that "offers no good choices". In the 2024 general election, the ''FT'' endorsed the Labour Party again, expressing the need for a "fresh start", while cautioning "Labour's interventionist instincts and fervour for regulation".


United States politics

In the
2008 United States presidential election Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John Mc ...
, the ''Financial Times'' endorsed
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
. While it raised concerns over hints of
protectionism Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations ...
, it praised his ability to "engage the country's attention", his calls for a bipartisan politics, and his plans for " comprehensive health-care reform". The ''FT'' favoured Obama again in the
2012 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 6, 2012. Incumbent Democratic Party (United States), Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, incumbent Vice President Joe Bi ...
. The ''FT'' endorsed Democratic candidates
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
in the run-up to the
2016 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 8, 2016. The Republican Party (United States), Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana Governor, Indiana governor Mike P ...
,
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
in the
2020 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala H ...
, and
Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...
in the
2024 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 2024. The Republican Party (United States), Republican Party's Ticket (election), ticket—Donald Trump, who was the 45th president of ...
.


Ownership and related publications

On 23 July 2015, Nikkei, Inc. agreed to buy the Financial Times Group, a division of Pearson plc since 1957, for £844m (US$1.32 billion) and the acquisition was completed on 30 November 2015. Under the transaction agreement, Pearson retained the publishing rights to FT Press and licensed the trademark from Nikkei. Until August 2015 the FT group had a 50% shareholding in ''
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...
'', which was sold to the
Agnelli family The Agnelli family () is an Italian multi-industry business dynasty family founded by Giovanni Agnelli, one of the original founders of the Fiat motor company which became Italy's largest automobile manufacturer. They are also primarily known fo ...
for £469 million. Related publications include the ''Financial Times'', FT.com, FT Search Inc., the publishing imprint FT Press and numerous joint ventures. In November 2013 it agreed to sell Mergermarket, an online intelligence reporting business, to the London private equity investor BC Partners. In addition, the FT Group has a unit called FT Specialist, which is a provider of specialist information on retail, personal and institutional finance segments. It publishes ''
The Banker ''The Banker'' is an English-language monthly international financial affairs publication owned by '' The Financial Times'' and edited in London, United Kingdom. The magazine was first published in January 1926 through founding editor Brendan ...
'', ''
Money Management Investment management (sometimes referred to more generally as financial asset management) is the professional asset management of various securities, including shareholdings, bonds, and other assets, such as real estate, to meet specified ...
'' and ''FT Adviser'' (a publication targeted to the financial intermediary market), ''fDi Intelligence'' and ''Professional Wealth Management'' (PWM). In 2023, FT Specialist acquired a majority stake in medical publisher Endpoints News. The Financial Times Group announced the beta launch of newssift, part of FT Search, in March 2009. Newssift.com is a next-generation search tool for business professionals that indexes millions of articles from thousands of global business news sources, not just the ''FT''. The Financial Times Group acquired Money Media (an online news and commentary site for the industry) and Exec-Appointments (an online recruitment specialist site for the executive jobs market). The FT Group once had a 13.85% stake in Business Standard Ltd of India, the publisher of the ''
Business Standard ''Business Standard'' is an Indian English-language daily edition newspaper published by Business Standard Private Limited, also available in Hindi. Founded in 1975, the newspaper covers the Indian economy, infrastructure, international busi ...
''. It sold this stake in April 2008 and has entered into an agreement with
Network 18 Network18 Media & Investments Limited, (d/b/a Network18 Group) is an Indian media conglomerate owned by the Reliance Industries, headed by Mukesh Ambani. Rahul Joshi is the managing director, chief executive officer and group editor-in-chief, a ...
to launch the ''Financial Times'' in India, though it is speculated that they may find it difficult to do so, as the brand 'Financial Times' in India is owned by
The Times Group Bennett Coleman and Company Limited (BCCL), d/b/a the Times Group, is an Indian media conglomerate based in Mumbai. Notable media properties owned and operated by the group include India's largest selling daily English-language newspaper ''The ...
, the publisher of ''
The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...
'' and ''
The Economic Times ''The Economic Times'' is an Indian English-language business-focused daily newspaper. Owned by The Times Group, ''The Economic Times'' began publication in 1961 and it is sold in all major cities in India. As of 2012, it is the world's secon ...
''. The group also publishes America's Intelligence Wire, a daily general
newswire A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswir ...
service. The ''Financial Times Financial Publishing division (formerly FT Business) provides print and online content for retail, personal and institutional finance audiences. Examples of publications and services include: ''
Investors Chronicle The ''Investors' Chronicle'' is a weekly magazine in the United Kingdom for private investors and is published by the ''Financial Times'' Group. The magazine publishes articles about global markets and sectors, and news on corporate actions such ...
'', a personal finance magazine and website; "FT Money", a weekly personal finance supplement in "FT Weekend"; ''FT Wealth'', a magazine for the global high-net-worth community and FTfm, a weekly review of the global fund management industry, ''
Money Management Investment management (sometimes referred to more generally as financial asset management) is the professional asset management of various securities, including shareholdings, bonds, and other assets, such as real estate, to meet specified ...
'' and ''FT Adviser''. The institutional segment includes: ''
The Banker ''The Banker'' is an English-language monthly international financial affairs publication owned by '' The Financial Times'' and edited in London, United Kingdom. The magazine was first published in January 1926 through founding editor Brendan ...
'', '' This Is Africa'', '' fDi'' ''Intelligence'' and ''Professional Wealth Management'' (PWM). Money-Media, a separate arm of Financial Publishing, delivers a range of digital information services for fund management professionals around the globe, including: Ignites, Ignites Europe, Ignites Asia, FundFire and BoardIQ. Financial Publishing includes publications ('' Pensions Expert'' and ''Deutsche Pensions & Investmentnachrichten'') and events (''Investment Expert'') for the European pensions industry. The group also publishes MandateWire, a financial information company that provides sales and market intelligence for investment professionals in North America, Europe and Asia. FT Knowledge is an associated company which offers educational products and services. FT Knowledge has offered the "Introducing the City" course (which is a series of Wednesday night lectures and seminars, as well as weekend events) during each autumn and spring since 2000. FT Predict is an editorial service on forecasted economic events hosted by the ''Financial Times'' that allows users to buy and sell contracts based on future financial, political and news-driven events by spending fictional Financial Times Dollars (FT$). Based on the assumptions displayed in James Surowiecki's '' The Wisdom of Crowds'', this contest allows people to use forecasted economic events to observe future occurrences while competing for weekly and monthly prizes. The ''Financial Times'' also ran a business-related game called "In the Pink" (a phrase meaning "in good health", also a reference to the colour of the newspaper and to the phrase "in the red" meaning to be making a loss). Each player was put in the virtual role of Chief Executive and the goal was to have the highest
profit Profit may refer to: Business and law * Profit (accounting), the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market * Profit (economics), normal profit and economic profit * Profit (real property), a nonpossessory inter ...
when the game closes. The winner of the game (the player who makes the highest profit) was to receive a real monetary prize of £10,000. The game ran from 1 May to 28 June 2006. In 2019, the ''Financial Times'' announced it was investing in ''Sifted'', a digital-only news site and newsletter covering European
startups A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an Entrepreneurship, entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses tha ...
. The ''Financial Times initial 25% stake was subsequently diluted to 14% due to later investments from others. This marked the start of a planned 7-year strategic relationship with Sifted.


Indices

The ''Financial Times'' collates and publishes a number of financial market indices, which reflect the changing value of their constituent parts. The longest-running of these was the former ''Financial News Index'', started on 1 July 1935 by the ''Financial News''. The ''FT'' published a similar index; this was replaced by the ''Financial News Index'' — which was then renamed the ''Financial Times (FT) Index'' — on 1 January 1947. The index started as an index of industrial shares, and companies with dominant overseas interests were excluded, such as the
Anglo-Iranian Oil Company The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC; ) was a British company founded in 1909 following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjed Soleiman, Persia (Iran). The British government purchased 51% of the company in 1914, gaining a controlling numbe ...
(later BP), British-American Tobacco,
Lever Brothers Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and su ...
(later
Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...
) and
Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...
. The oil and financial sectors were included decades later.''The Stock Market'', John Littlewood. The FTSE All-Share Index, the first of the FTSE series of indices, was created in 1962, comprising the largest 594 UK companies by market capitalisation. The letters ''F-T-S-E'' represented that FTSE was a joint venture between the ''Financial Times'' (F-T) and the
London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...
(S-E). On 13 February 1984 the
FTSE 100 The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is the United Kingdom's best-known stock market index of the 100 most market capitalisation, highly capitalised ...
was introduced, representing about eighty per cent of the London Stock Exchange's value.
FTSE Group FTSE International Limited trading as FTSE Russell ( "Footsie") is a British provider of stock market index, stock market indices and associated data services, wholly owned by the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and operating from premises in Canary ...
was made an independent company in 1995. The first of several overseas offices was opened in New York City in 1999; Paris followed in early 2000, Hong Kong,
Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
and San Francisco in 2001,
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
in 2002 and Tokyo in 2003. Other well-known FTSE indices include the FTSE 350 Index, the
FTSE SmallCap Index The FTSE SmallCap Index is an index of small market capitalisation companies consisting of the 351st to the 619th largest-listed companies on the London Stock Exchange main market. The index, which is maintained by FTSE Russell, a subsidiary of ...
, the FTSE AIM UK 50 Index and FTSE AIM 100 Index as well as the
FTSE AIM All-Share Index The FTSE AIM All-Share Index was revised from the previous FTSE AIM Index on 16 May 2005, and is a stock market index consisting of all companies quoted on the Alternative Investment Market which meet the requirements for liquidity and free float I ...
for stocks, and the FTSE UK Gilt Indices for government bonds. In 2021, the ''Financial Times'' started publishing three multi-asset indexes with Wilshire Associates covering combinations of the top five cryptocurrencies.


People

In July 2006, the ''FT'' announced a "New Newsroom" project to integrate the newspaper more closely with FT.com. At the same time it announced plans to cut the editorial staff from 525 to 475. In August 2006 it announced that all the required job cuts had been achieved through voluntary layoffs. A number of former ''FT'' journalists have gone on to high-profile jobs in journalism, politics and business. Robert Thomson, previously the paper's US managing editor, was the editor of ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' and is now the chief executive of
News Corporation The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...
. Will Lewis, a former New York correspondent and News Editor for the ''FT'', edited ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' and ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
''. Dominic Lawson went on to become editor of the ''
Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegr ...
'' until he was dismissed in 2005.
Andrew Adonis Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, (born Andreas Adonis; 22 February 1963) is a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and journalist who served in HM Government for five years in the Third Blair ministry, Blair ministry and the Brown mi ...
, a former education correspondent, became an adviser on education to the then British Prime Minister,
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...
, and was given a job as an education minister and a seat in the
House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
after the 2005 election.
Ed Balls Edward Michael Balls (born 25 February 1967) is a British former politician, broadcaster and economist. He served as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families from 2007 to 2010, and as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2011 to ...
became chief economic adviser to the Treasury, working closely with
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...
, the
chancellor of the exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...
(or finance minister), before being elected a Member of Parliament in 2005, and became
Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families was a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Children, Schools and Families. The post was created on 28 June 2007 afte ...
in July 2007. Bernard Gray, a former defence correspondent and Lex columnist, was chief executive of the publishing company CMP before becoming chief executive of TSL Education, publisher of the ''
Times Educational Supplement ''TES'', formerly known as the ''Times Educational Supplement'', is a British weekly trade magazine aimed at education professionals. It was first published in 1910 as a pull-out supplement in ''The Times'' newspaper. Such was its popularity th ...
''. David Jones, at one time the ''FT''s Night Editor, then became Head of IT. He was a key figure in the newspaper's transformation from hot metal to electronic composition and then onto full-page pagination in the 1990s. He went on to become Head of Technology for the Trinity Mirror Group. Sir Geoffrey Owen was the editor of the ''Financial Times'' from 1981 to 1990. He joined the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) at the
London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...
as Director of Business Policy in 1991 and was appointed Senior Fellow, Institute of Management, in 1997. He continues his work there. During his tenure at the ''FT'' he had to deal with rapid technological change and issues related to it, for example repetitive strain injury (RSI), which affected dozens of ''FT'' journalists, reporters and staff in the late 1980s.


Editors

:1889: Douglas MacRae :1890: William Ramage Lawson :1892: Sydney Murray :1896: A. E. Murray :1909: C. H. Palmer :1924: D. S. T. Hunter :1937: Archibald Chisholm :1940: Albert George Cole :1945: Hargreaves Parkinson :1949: Sir Gordon Newton :1973: Fredy Fisher :1981: Sir Geoffrey Owen :1991:
Richard Lambert Sir Richard Peter Lambert (born 23 September 1944) is a British journalist and business executive. He served as director-general of the CBI, chancellor of the University of Warwick, editor of the ''Financial Times'' newspaper and chairman of t ...
:2001:
Andrew Gowers Andrew Gowers (born 1957) was appointed editor of the ''Financial Times'' in October 2001. He resigned from this post in November 2005 citing "strategic differences". In March 2012 he was appointed Director of External Relations at the Associati ...
:2006:
Lionel Barber Lionel Barber (born 18 January 1955)Who's Who is an English journalist. He was editor of the ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') from 2005 to 2020. Barber worked at ''The Scotsman'' and ''The Sunday Times'' before working at the ''FT'' from the mid-198 ...
:2020: Roula Khalaf


See also

*
Business journalism Business journalism is the part of journalism that tracks, records, analyzes, and interprets the business sector, business, Economy, economic and finance, financial activities and changes that take place in societies. wikt:topic, Topics widely c ...
* ''Financial Times'' Business Book of the Year Award *
Financial Times Person of the Year The ''Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the ...
*
List of newspapers in the United Kingdom Twelve daily newspapers and eleven Sunday-only weekly newspapers are distributed nationally in the United Kingdom. Others circulate in Scotland only and still others serve smaller areas. National daily newspapers publish every day except Sund ...
*
TNW (website) TNW (The Next Web) is a website and annual series of conferences focused on new technology and start-up companies in Europe. The Next Web company was established in 2006 by co-founders Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten and Patrick de Laive in Amsterd ...
*
Periodical literature Periodical literature (singularly called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) consists of published works that appear in new releases on a regular schedule (''issues'' or ''numbers'', often numerically divided into annual ''volumes ...


References


External links

* {{authority control Financial services companies established in 1888 1888 establishments in England 1957 mergers and acquisitions 2015 mergers and acquisitions Business newspapers Business newspapers published in the United Kingdom Centre-right newspapers Centrism in the United Kingdom Centrist newspapers Conservative liberalism Daily newspapers published in the United Kingdom Economy of the United Kingdom International newspapers Liberal media in the United Kingdom National newspapers published in the United Kingdom Neoliberalism Newspapers established in 1888 Nikkei Inc. Pearson plc Podcasting companies