Explained: Why the Nikkei-FT merger is all blue skies and sunshine

Four years after Nikkei paid a record price for FT, the merger is flourishing on every front

Exactly four years ago, the $3.3-billion Nikkei Inc, one of Japan’s largest media firms, paid £844 million to buy the UK-based Financial Times Group or FT, from Pearson.

The FT Group has been on a roll ever since. Last April, its flagship global newspaper The Financial Times crossed 1 million paid users, up from 800,000 when Nikkei took over. About three-fourths of these subscribers are digital.  It has been buying all sorts of firms in events, data analytics and video to beef up its digital offering. Last week, it bought a minority stake in The Business of Fashion, a UK-based digital