With US$1.3b and no pink paper, Pearson goes back to school

London

WITH its sale of the Financial Times and efforts to offload its half-interest in The Economist, Pearson Plc is exiting a troubled sector to expand in one that's struggling to grow.

Chief executive officer John Fallon says he plans to use the proceeds from the two publications to shore up an education business that has lost three key US contracts in the past 16 months and slashed jobs to counter declining textbook sales.