The Financial Times‘ parent company Pearson has agreed to sell its 50 per cent stake in Financial Times Deutschland to publishing firm Gruner + Jahr, stating that the German paper ‘no longer fits’ with their plans to develop digitally.

As part of sale, which is expected to complete by the end of the first quarter, FT will continue to ‘licence’ content to FT Deutschland, a statement from the company said.

“The FT Group is increasingly focussed on the worldwide expansion of the Financial Times and our digital financial information businesses. FT Deutschland no longer fits within that strategy, but we are very pleased to have found such a good home for a great newspaper,” Rona Fairhead, chief executive of the Financial Times Group, said in the release.