Spiegel-Verlag cancels entry into FTD

 Spiegel-Verlag has decided not to acquire a stake in the Financial Times Deutschland (FTD) as announced at the beginning of September (see: ). The five-member management of Mitarbeiter KG, Spiegel's main shareholder with a 50.5 percent stake, has rejected Spiegel managing director Mario Frank's acquisition plan, according to Horizont.net. Frank had planned to take over the British Pearson Group's 50 percent share in the Financial Times Deutschland. The remaining 50 percent is held by Gruner + Jahr. Spiegel-Verlag has not commented on the internal "no", nor on the previous purchase plans. It remains to be seen what will happen to the FTD half, which Pearson wants to sell for strategic reasons. Only one thing seems to be ruled out: that G+J will also sell its share. "FTD, whose development we are satisfied with, will continue to be part of our portfolio in the future," says a G+J spokesperson. FTD has been in the red since it was founded in 2000 - this year it is expected to make a loss of around 8 million euros.