Financial Times boss Fairhead steps down

Financial Times boss Rona Fairhead is resigning after 12 years at parent company Pearson. The former finance director was a candidate to replace Dame Marjorie Scardino as chief executive, but that job was handed to international education boss John Fallon.

"The leadership transition at Pearson makes this a natural moment for me to make a change," said Ms Fairhead, who is also a non-executive director at HSBC. Dame Marjorie's exit has heightened expectations that Pearson will sell the FT so it can plough more funds into education and technology assets.

Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters would be the most likely bidders if the newspaper is offloaded.