Pearson boss wields axe on print jobs John Fallon marked his first set of results since he took the reins from Dame Marjorie Scardino by announcing plans for a radical £200m restructure, involving job losses in every country in which Pearson operates. He would not reveal how many jobs are at stake at the group, which owns the Financial Times newspaper and Penguin book publishing, but said the company needed to take swift action to help it tap into the growing middle class population in developing countries, who are eager to spend large proportions of their income on education. "This is absolutely the right thing to do now and now we really have for to get on with it very urgently," he said. The rise of the global middle class is probably the single most important trend for Pearson's future. The restructure will cost £150m in the first year and £50m in the second, but will free up £100m a year from 2014 which the company will invest in projects like its lucrative string of colleges and universities in China and South Africa. At the moment, the opportunity in China is "much bigger than our ability to meet it," he said. We will grow as quickly [in the country] as we put resources at it. Around 15pc of Pearson's revenues currently come from developing markets, led by Brazil, India, China and South Africa. Mr Fallon said he wants to boost that figure to 25pc by 2015. Pearson also aims to increase the proportion of revenues that come from digital products, such as online learning or ebooks, to increase from just north of 50pc of revenues to 70pc over the same time frame. However, Mr Fallon made it clear that he does not have any plans in the works to sell the Financial Times. The Daily Telegraph revealed last month that a number of banks are touting the newspaper for sale, but the new Pearson chief executive said he had not "initiated, conducted or encouraged" any talks. He would not rule out a future sale but said the FT is useful as a "chronicler of [the] globalisation" which is driving Pearson's strategy. The restructure follows a difficult 2012 for Pearson, especially in America where it gains 60pc of its revenues. Although group sales rose 4.3pc to £5.1bn, pre-tax profits fell by nearly 60pc to £434m as US public spending cuts took a major bite out of the text book market. The group was also affected by the closure of Pearson In Practice, a UK business which runs apprenticeship training schemes, and the 2011 sale of Pearson's stake in FTSE International, which injected closet to £450m into its bottom line that year. Mr Fallon described 2012 as a "year of two halves" characterised by strong underlying performances in developing markets, and much weaker ones in its established strongholds such as the US and the UK. This year is likely to be similarly tough, he added.