Financial Times

• 1. The Pink Paper Launch

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  On the 10th of January 1888, a four-page journal named the London Financial Guide began circulation in metropolitan London. James Sheridan distributed copies to the financial community of the City of London alongside his brother and Horatio Bottomley. They sought to report on city business as an alternative to the Financial News, which had been founded in 1884. The paper renamed itself the Financial Times just three weeks later on the 13th of February 1888. It described its readership as honest financiers, bona fide investors, respectable brokers, genuine directors, and legitimate speculators. On the 2nd of January 1893, the publication began printing on light pink paper to distinguish itself from its rival. This distinctive color came from China clay sourced from the Bodelva clay pit near St Austell in Cornwall. At that time, it was cheaper not to bleach the paper, though today the process requires special dyeing.

• 2. Mergers And Global Reach

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  Brendan Bracken purchased the Financial Times from Lord Camrose in 1945 after fifty-seven years of competition with the Financial News. He merged the two papers into a single six-page newspaper that year. The Financial News provided much of the editorial talent while the Financial Times held higher circulation. The Lex column originated from the Financial News before moving to the new combined entity. Pearson bought the paper in 1957 and oversaw decades of expansion. On the 1st of January 1979, the first continental Europe edition appeared in Frankfurt outside the United Kingdom. Printing in the United States began in July 1985. By 1998, the FT became the first UK-based newspaper to sell more copies internationally than within the UK. It now prints in twenty-two locations across five international editions serving the UK, continental Europe, the US, Asia, and the Middle East.

• 3. Digital Subscriptions Rise

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  On the 13th of May 1995, the Financial Times group launched its first online presence as FT.com. This site initially offered summaries of global news supplemented by stock price coverage starting in February 1996. The second-generation site arrived in spring 1996. Between 1997 and 2000, the platform underwent several strategic revamps. In 2002, the publication introduced subscription services for its website. Four years later, it launched an HTML5 mobile internet app. Smartphones and tablets now drive twelve percent of subscriptions and nineteen percent of traffic to FT.com. In 2012, digital subscribers surpassed print circulation for the first time. The paper drew almost half of its revenue from subscriptions rather than advertising that year. Pearson sold the entire Financial Times Group to Nikkei, Inc. on the 23rd of July 2015 for £844 million or US$1.32 billion.

• 4. Political Endorsements Shift

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  During the 1980s, the newspaper supported Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan's monetarist policies. It backed the UK Labour Party at the general election in 1992 when Neil Kinnock led the party. The editorial stance shifted back to supporting Conservatives fairly consistently after the merger era until 1992. From 1992 until 2010, the FT reversed course and backed Labour due to Conservative Euroscepticism. In the 2010 general election, the paper questioned Conservative tendencies toward Euroscepticism while backing them over Labour. The 2017 election saw a reluctant endorsement of Theresa May over Jeremy Corbyn. The 2019 general election was declared fateful with no good choices offered by either major party. In 2024, the FT endorsed the Labour Party again calling for a fresh start while cautioning against interventionist instincts. The publication also endorsed Barack Obama in both the 2008 and 2012 United States presidential elections.

• 5. Scandals And Investigations

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  In January 2019, reporter Dan McCrum began a series of investigative articles detailing fraud suspicions at German payments group Wirecard. When the Wirecard share price plunged, German news media speculated that market manipulation lay behind the attack on a German corporate entity. The Public prosecutor's office in Munich subsequently launched an investigation into several FT journalists following complaints from investors and BaFin. On the 22nd of June 2020, Wirecard announced that €1.9 billion worth of cash reported in its accounts may not exist before filing for insolvency. An investigation by the Intercept found that the FT publishes advertising for the fossil fuel industry. Journalists covering climate change expressed concern that conflicts of interest would reduce credibility regarding their reporting on climate change. In 2020, editor Roula Khalaf withdrew an opinion piece by Mehreen Khan critical of French President Emmanuel Macron after being contacted by the Élysée Palace.

• 6. Market Indices Created

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  The longest-running index started as the Financial News Index on the 1st of July 1935 by the Financial News publication. This was replaced by the Financial Times Index on the 1st of January 1947. The index initially covered industrial shares while excluding companies with dominant overseas interests like Anglo-Iranian Oil Company later known as BP. The FTSE All-Share Index arrived in 1962 comprising the largest 594 UK companies by market capitalisation. Letters F-T-S-E represented a joint venture between the Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange. On the 13th of February 1984, the FTSE 100 was introduced representing about eighty percent of the London Stock Exchange's value. FTSE Group became an independent company in 1995. Overseas offices opened in New York City in 1999 followed by Paris in early 2000. Other indices include the FTSE 350 Index, the FTSE SmallCap Index, and the FTSE AIM UK 50 Index for stocks.