Google lures FT.com chief

Ien Cheng, publisher and managing editor of the Financial Times website FT.com is leaving the company to join Google. He will take on the position of director of product management for advertising, joining the search giant’s European team.

Cheng is expected to leave his current role in a month’s time after eight years with the company. In an internal email to staff, Cheng says he had been “offered an opportunity at Google that is, for me, unmissable”.

He says “The Financial Times is today newly confident across all areas – from editorial and technology to marketing and ad sales – to win the internet world.”

In his email he also adds that FT.com enjoyed an 85% increase in page views in the first three months of the year, with the number of registered users almost 400,000.

“That illustrates the success of our new user model. Revenues have grown sharply, making an ever-greater contribution to the FT,” he says.