· Overseas targets would include FT, says Journal · Website to be launched in range of foreign languages The Wall Street Journal is looking to launch its website in a range of foreign languages as the 118-year-old newspaper, owned by Dow Jones & Company, seeks to bolster its position outside its core US market. The Wall Street Journal's publisher Gordon Crovitz also admitted that the company would be interested in buying the Financial Times should its owner Pearson ever put it up for sale, something that has been speculated about intensely in recent days but consistently denied by senior management. "If the FT ever were to come on the market we would look at it," he said. "But so far Pearson has [maintained] it's not for sale." Article continues Pearson's chief executive, Dame Marjorie Scardino, once famously remarked that the FT would be sold "over my dead body" but after a decade at the helm of the media group, talk that she is working on a succession plan is growing louder. Rona Fairhead, seen as a possible successor, moved from being Pearson's finance head to boss of the FT Group last June and insiders believe she has been given 18 months to two years to show that the pink paper can make serious money or it will be sold off. It made a £5m profit in the first half of 2006 after climbing out of the red in the previous year. Rupert Murdoch has also long been seen as a potential buyer if the FT ever came up for sale, though he would almost certainly have to divest himself of The Times to gain approval. There is an obvious fit between the FT and Journal. The Wall Street Journal is one of the US's top three newspapers, with more than 1.7m subscribers in the US, but its European and Asian editions have only about 100,000 each. The FT's moves into the US and Asia have also met with similarly mixed success.
The Wall Street Journal is looking to launch its website in a range of foreign languages as the 118-year-old newspaper, owned by Dow Jones & Company, seeks to bolster its position outside its core US market.
The Wall Street Journal's publisher Gordon Crovitz also admitted that the company would be interested in buying the Financial Times should its owner Pearson ever put it up for sale, something that has been speculated about intensely in recent days but consistently denied by senior management. "If the FT ever were to come on the market we would look at it," he said. "But so far Pearson has [maintained] it's not for sale."
Article continues Pearson's chief executive, Dame Marjorie Scardino, once famously remarked that the FT would be sold "over my dead body" but after a decade at the helm of the media group, talk that she is working on a succession plan is growing louder. Rona Fairhead, seen as a possible successor, moved from being Pearson's finance head to boss of the FT Group last June and insiders believe she has been given 18 months to two years to show that the pink paper can make serious money or it will be sold off. It made a £5m profit in the first half of 2006 after climbing out of the red in the previous year. Rupert Murdoch has also long been seen as a potential buyer if the FT ever came up for sale, though he would almost certainly have to divest himself of The Times to gain approval.
There is an obvious fit between the FT and Journal. The Wall Street Journal is one of the US's top three newspapers, with more than 1.7m subscribers in the US, but its European and Asian editions have only about 100,000 each. The FT's moves into the US and Asia have also met with similarly mixed success.
