Footsie at the FT

Steerpike is back in this week’s magazine. As ever, here is your preview:

How much would you stump up for the Economist? Most of us would draw the line at a fiver, but I’m told that Mike Bloomberg, mayor of New York, is drawing the line at £300 million. Bloomberg is busy relocating to London and he’s poised to snap up the Financial Times later this year. But the Pink ’Un comes with a 50 per cent share in the Economist. And the small print conceals a pesky restrictive covenant that prevents the owner from replacing the editor.

This is proving a drag for Bloomberg, who admires the Economist’s boss, John Micklethwait, but who sees little sense in buying a ship if he can’t appoint the captain. Enter minority shareholder Lynn Forester, Lady de Rothschild. She has money to burn and, as a Hillary Clinton fundraiser, an admirable fondness for lost causes. With her help, Pearson’s shareholders may be able to offload the Economist and then sell the FT to Bloomberg.