Heritage
The Financial Times (FT) is one of the world’s leading business news and information organisations. Explore our history timeline to find out how we came to be the modern media company that we are today.
- 1884The Financial News is established by Harry Marks
- 1888The Financial Times is launched as the friend of the ‘Honest Financier and the Respectable Broker’.
- 1893The FT newspaper is first printed on pink paper.
- 1919Berry Bros, owners of The Sunday Times and, later, The Daily Telegraph, take control of the FT.
- 1928Brendan Bracken becomes chairman of Financial News.
- 193530-share index introduced in the FT.
- 1945Bracken buys FT, merges with Financial News but keeps pink paper and FT name; Lex column introduced.
- 195320,000th issue celebrated; ‘Industry’, ‘Commerce’ and ‘Public Affairs’ introduced to masthead, reflecting increased scope of the newspaper; Arts page introduced.
- 1957FT taken over by Pearson.
- 1960Average circulation exceeds 132,000.
- 1979European edition starts printing in Frankfurt.
- 1980Geoffrey Owen becomes editor.
- 1985FT starts printing in New York.
- 1986Circulation passes 250,000 mark, using the ‘No FT, No Comment’ campaign; FT printing processes move from hot metal to coldset printing.
- 1987First world share index published.
- 1988FT starts printing in Paris; FT acquires Les Echos and Expansion.
- 1990FT starts printing in Tokyo.
- 1991Richard Lambert becomes editor.
- 1994First edition of ‘How To Spend It’ magazine published.
- 1995FT starts printing in Madrid, Stockholm and Los Angeles, and relaunches the international edition; FT.com, the FT’s website, is launched
- 1996FT starts printing in Hong Kong
- 1997Redesign of the Weekend FT; Launch of the US edition
- 1998FT starts printing in Milan and Chicago; International circulation sales overtake UK circulation sales.
- 1999FT starts printing in Boston and San Francisco.
- 2000FT starts printing in Dallas, Miami, Kuala Lumpur and Seoul; Launch of FT Deutschland, a German-language joint venture with Gruner + Jahr
- 2001FT hits 500,000 copies per day (March); Andrew Gowers becomes editor.
- 2002FT starts printing digitally in South Africa; FT.com is relaunched and subscription services introduced.
- 2003FT starts printing in Dubai and Atlanta; UK edition of the FT newspaper is revamped; The FT Magazine is introduced with the Weekend FT; Asia edition launched in print and online.
- 2004FT celebrates 25th anniversary of its European edition; FT is first foreign media company to make a major investment in an Indian newspaper, taking a 13.85 per cent equity stake in the Business Standard; FT starts printing in Sydney; ‘How To Spend It’ magazine celebrates its 10th anniversary.
- 2005FT.com celebrates its 10th anniversary; Lionel Barber is appointed editor of the FT newspaper.
- 2006John Ridding is appointed Chief Executive Officer of the FT; Rona Fairhead appointed Chief Executive Officer of the FT Group; FT Group acquires Mergermarket.
- 2007Global ‘refresh’ of the newspaper; Launch of the new FT.com access model; FT acquires Exec-Appointments; The FT newspaper is named ‘Newspaper of the Year’ at the What the Papers Say Awards.
- 2008FT acquires Money-Media; The FT newspaper is named ‘Newspaper of the Year’ at the British Press Awards and Newspaper Awards; FT launches China Confidential.
- 2009FT launches iPhone and iPod touch application on Apple App Store; FT acquires MandateWire; First digital edition of the FT newspaper is printed in Malta; FT launches howtospendit.com.
- 2010FT acquires Medley Global Advisors (MGA); FT launches its iPad application and wins an Apple Design Award; Investors Chronicle celebrates 150 years.