Financial Times could be sold by Pearson for £1bn Potential bidders include: Michael Bloomberg, the owner of the Bloomberg media group, which revealed the FT sale move on Tuesday night; David Thomson, of Thomson Reuters; and Rupert Murdoch, the boss of News Corporation. A sale could trigger a bidding war between the business media rivals. It could also attract wealthy bidders from the Middle East or Russia. The newspaper is part of the FT Group, which also owns The Economist magazine, and accounts for 8pc of Pearson's revenues and 12pc of its profits. Pearson has said it wants to focus on building its education division, which, driven by Dame Marjorie, has become the group's core business, accounting for 80pc of its profits. Over the past 12 months, Pearson has spent more than £750m on 10 acquisitions in the education industry. Last night, a Pearson spokesman said: "We have said many times that the FT is a valued and valuable part of Pearson... this particular Bloomberg story is wrong." The company's shares closed at £12.40, up marginally on the day.