(Hard) Financial Times: Biz News Buyouts Help to Enlarge Digital Footprint

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In an email this week to staffers, Lionel Barber, Editor of the Pearson PLC-owned Financial Times ("FT"), outlined plans to bolster FT's digital presence while expressing hope that offered buyouts might negate the need for layoffs.

According to a report on the paidcontent.org site, FT hopes 35 staffers will accept buyouts to enable the business news giant to save 1.6 million pounds ($2,534,732) so that layoffs could be avoided.  Barber said the organization plans to increase its digital side workforce by 10. FT's mobile now accounts purportedly constitute a quarter of FT's digital traffic.

Part of  FT's plan to emphasize its digital platform over its print version, the paidcontent.org post said, involves streamlining its international presence.