Nikkei breaks into English news at last - with FT buy

London

NIKKEI'S US$1.3 billion purchase of the Financial Times from Britain's Pearson Plc marks the culmination of decades of attempts by the Japanese household name to break into mainstream English-language media.

The Japanese media group's flagship newspaper enjoys a must-read reputation for financial news in Japan and, with a circulation of more than 3 million, bills itself as the world's biggest selling business daily.

But it has remained unable to break out from its home shores since starting …