The Financial Times Group has announced plans to merge its FT Business division with Financial Times Ltd, the division which publishes the flagship newspaper.
FT Business owns portfolio of magazines targeting specific areas of the financial world and which also runs websites and events.
It is divided into three sections: Personal Finance (including Investors Chronicle), Retail Finance (includingt Financial Adviser) and Institutional Finance (including The Banker).
Over the last three years FT Business is said to have maintained "healthy double digit" profit margins, whereas the FT newspaper has lost money as a result of the advertising recession.
Financial Times CEO John Ridding said: “This is an exciting time for business media and we see significant opportunities from collaboration with FT Business. We believe that a media business that can combine strong niches such as those in which FT Business excels, with the FT’s global reach and powerful brand, has every chance of achieving long-term success in this new environment.”
As of today, FT Business will enter into a 30-day consultation period with staff – however it said no redundancies are planned as a result of the proposed merger.
FT Business is to relocate to the FT’s head office at One Southwark Bridge in January 2007, as already announced in October 2005.
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