The smart money is backing print – so why is Pearson flogging The Economist?

In selling The Economist, Pearson might well be flogging the wrong assets at the wrong time, says Matthew Lynn.

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Like the FT, The Economist is thriving amid digital disruption

First the Financial Times was sold off. Now it appears that Pearson is about to sell off The Economist too. The media and education conglomerate is radically reshaping its portfolio to dispose of its upmarket media brands in order to focus on its education business instead. No doubt the City will encourage this. The prices achieved for the assets will be excellent, and will flatter the balance sheet.The trouble is, Pearson might well turn out to be selling the wrong assets at the wrong time as I'll explain in a moment.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.