Why the Financial Times wants to reset capitalism
The FT might be pro-business, but its marketing boss Finola McDonnell has taken on the tricky job of holding a mirror up to capitalism as it looks to position itself as the newspaper that can guide companies through the next decade.
The newspaper business has been a tricky one of late. Ad revenues have been decimated, readers are abandoning newspapers in favour of online, journalists have been laid off and the shift to revenue through subscriptions slow.
One news organisation that is bucking the trend is the Financial Times. Having first introduced a paywall in 2002, it reached the milestone of 1 million paying subscribers in 2019, a year ahead of schedule.
At that level, the FT’s business model is “reasonably sustainable” no matter what happens to other revenue streams, such as advertising or events.
Operating revenues and profits are both on the rise, and it ended last year with more journalists than it started with.
It is also a time of change at the company.
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