(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors)Exor a holding company held by the Agnelli family the founders of FIAT automobiles are rumored to be negotiating the purchase of 50% of 'The Economist' the famous newspaper held by Pearson (NYSE:PSO). This represents the second major sale from Pearson which last week relinquished the Financial Times to Japan's Nikkei. Exor already owns 5 percent of the British economic weekly and has launched negotiations with Pearson to take over 50 percent of the Economist but Exor will surely not end up with a majority stake in order to avoid the weekly being subjected to a 'hegemonic' shareholder after the departure of Pearson. In the end Exor controlled by John Elkann will end up with a minority stake even if well above the current amount of 5 percent. Everything revolves around the publisher Pearson and two giants of financial journalism as Financial Times and Economist. In recent days Pearson sold the salmon colored newspaper to the Nikkei group amid a series of contenders from Germany's Axel Springer to Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters. The sale is part of Pearson's plan to focus on science and educational publishing where it is the undisputed leader but Pearson controls 50% of the Economist now through the Financial Times and the deal with Nikkei does not include that package. According to Reuters the share could be worth over 300 million pounds (about 420 million euro). The Economist has margins above the FT Group which sold for GBP844 million and last year it recorded GBP60 million in operating profit against the GBP24 million recorded by the newspaper. Shares of Pearson Plc were trading 4.3 percent lower at US$17.97
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