Economist Group

The Economist Group is a media group, the company publishes The Economist magazine, and also organizes conferences and analytics.

Owners

As of August 2015, the controlling shareholder is the Italian Exor. Shareholders in the Economist Group also include Cadbury, Rothschild, Schroder, a number of the magazine's employees.

Representatives of the Rothschild family Sir Yvlin de Rothschild and his wife lady Leann Forrester de Rothschild own about 21% of the shares of The Economist. The Agnelli family in 2015 bought 50% of the publication from Pearson through the Exor investment fund, which previously owned a 4.7% stake in the magazine. The family owns a number of leading European publications, including La Stampa, Corriere della Sera, La Gazzetta dello Sport, El Mundo. In general, Agnelli controls up to 19% of the daily press market in Italy and up to 18% in Spain^[1].

Aktivs

The group for September 2011 included:

• The Economist magazine,
• The Economist online,
• Economist Intelligence Unit,
• Economist Conferences,
• Economist Corporate Network,
• The World In series
• Intelligent Life magazine.

• CQ Roll Call and European Voice (aimed at people making decisions on Capitol Hill and in Brussels)
• EuroFinance.

Performance indicators

In the 2014 financial year, The Economist made an operating profit of £60m on revenue of £328m.

History

2015: Pearson sells its 50% at the Economist

On August 12, 2015, it became known that the British publishing company Pearson was selling its 50 percent stake in The Economist for £469 million ($731 million) to Exor SpA, Pearson said in a press release.

Exor, the investment company of the Italian Agnelli family, which controls, in particular, the automotive concern Fiat Chrysler, will acquire 27.8% of the ordinary shares of The Economist from Pearson for 227.5 million pounds, as well as all shares of class "B" totaling 59.5 million pounds. Pearson's remaining ordinary shares of The Economist, totaling £182m, will be bought out by^[2] itself^[2].

The deal requires approval from a number of regulators, 75% of The Economist's shareholders as well as independent trustees, and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2015.

With the sale of The Economist, the company is completely out of the business media and intends to focus on the development of educational services.

1843: Founding The Economist

The Economist was founded in 1843.

Notes