9 -7 2 4 -4 1 0

JANUARY 17, 2024

ANDREW RASHBASS

RAMON CASADESUS-MASANELL

JORDAN MITCHELL

The Financial Times (FT) and Generative AI

Introduction
In mid-September 2023, John Ridding, the CEO of global news organization the Financial Times
(FT), was sitting at the desk of his Tokyo hotel room reviewing the presentation he would make to the
board of Nikkei, the FT’s owners since 2015. He cast his mind back to his weekend climb of Mount Fuji.
The amazing views from the top reminded him of the FT’s long ascent to where it now was – an iconic
brand that had successfully navigated the transition from print to digital, a change of ownership, and
COVID-19. It had also expanded into diverse businesses such as events, consulting, and education,
Ridding was about to present some of the best results in the FT’s 135-year history: record revenues,
circulation, audience engagement and profits ahead of target. Having joined the FT as a journalist in
the late 1980s and CEO since 2006, Ridding recalled how he had briefly hoped, post-pandemic, that the
business might have a smooth ride for a while despite the geopolitical and economic turmoil afoot.
After all, with ever-increasing complexity in the world, more readers relied on the FT as a source of
truth and reliable interpreter of events.

However, a new disruptive force was gathering pace: generative AI. Ridding’s strong instinct –
shared by the FT’s Editor, Roula Khalaf – was that the human craft of journalism as practiced at the FT
could not be replaced by generative AI: readers, he felt, wanted authority, integrity, and accuracy of
trusted human journalism. That said, the FT had learned the disruptive but enabling power of
technology during the transition to digital. The FT once again aimed to be an early adopter of
technology, this time using AI to support but not replace the FT’s brilliant journalists. The FT was
already employing the technology in content tagging and data processing, adapting marketing
campaigns, translating and creating text from speech, protecting against cyber-attacks, developing
code, and in other ways too. He was about to bet that doubling down on human journalism, powered
by the best available AI technology, combined with skilled and motivated commercial colleagues and
partner firms, would allow the FT to continue its winning streak – that was his narrative for the Nikkei
board.

However, as he worked, he reflected on the long transition from print to digital and the lessons
from it. He mused, for instance, that the FT could have developed a business social network – the FT
had necessary assets in 2003 when LinkedIn launched, but a business social network at that time had

Lecturer Andrew Rashbass, Professor Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, and Research Associate Jordan Mitchell prepared this case. It was reviewed
and approved before publication by a company designate. Funding for the development of this case was provided by Harvard Business School
and not by the company. HBS cases are developed solely as the basis for class discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources
of primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management.

Copyright © 2024 President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-545-7685,
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 724-410 The Financial Times (FT) and Generative AI

not seemed a natural fit with the FT’s products and services. He was very conscious that as of mid-
2023, Microsoft, LinkedIn’s owners, reported annual revenue for the division of $15 billion with 950
million users,1 dwarfing the FT. Ridding wondered if generative AI would create similar unimagined
opportunities. Was his remorseless focus on human journalism obscuring bigger opportunities? Could
generative AI fundamentally spawn new ways to look at the role of business news and create new
needs among the world’s multi-faceted business community? As a former journalist, Ridding hated to
hedge his story, but was the prize too big to ignore? Would he otherwise risk looking back in a few
years regretting that someone else had grabbed an opportunity that the FT had not even explored, even
if it shrouded the clarity he had worked so hard to instill in the organization? Was there a new, exciting
mountain to climb?

Newspapers within the News Industry

Competitive Landscape
Before the internet, people got their news in print or from TV (traders and bankers also used
proprietary Reuters or Bloomberg terminals). The cost and complexity of distribution and scarcity of
distribution channels meant that there were few providers, and each national market had its own
players alongside a handful of global suppliers. Pre-internet, barriers to entry were high. However, by
2023, the market was radically different: with the exception of audiences prevented by language
barriers or state censorship, news organizations and individuals could reach people anywhere (in fact,
machine translation and virtual private networks could get around language barriers and bypass some
censorship.)

In 2023, there were still global, national, and local news providers, but those categories were
determined more by the relevance of their content to particular audiences rather than by limitations in
distribution. Although news was still available in print, and on TV and radio, the print circulations of
newspapers and magazines, and viewership of linear TV had shrunk considerably. In 2023, there were
many providers of digital news available on the web and through mobile apps. These digital channels
included the websites of traditional news providers; online-only websites (like Huffington Post and
Axios); digital aggregators like Google News and Apple News; and social media such as X (formerly
Twitter), Facebook, and YouTube. Audio and video news podcasts were rising in popularity. There
continued to be outlets providing news about specific industries but they were largely digital-only and
many had no print heritage. Wire services such as Reuters, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse
served other news organizations but they had developed news products for consumers as well. There
were the market-data providers who provided business news – e.g., Bloomberg and Refinitiv – and
business intelligence providers for particular industries as well as multi-industry players such as S&P
Global. In 2023’s chaotic news landscape, bloggers and citizen “journalists,” broke news by, for
example, taking pictures and video of current events on their mobile phones and commenting on the
news using platforms such as Reddit, Medium and Substack, where in some cases the writer could
make money from subscriptions or from advertising.

Financial and business news remained an important segment of the news industry and operated in
all the channels described above. The FT played mainly in this crowded segment. Its competitors
included the Wall Street Journal (WSJ, see Exhibit 1 for more information). Ridding explained this long
rivalry as follows:

The FT versus the WSJ used to feel like a heavyweight bout for the world title. Nowadays
the competitive context has become much more complex and dynamic - with new players,
new formats and a much broader battle for time with the surge in apps and mobile

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delivery. But even decades back when we were both building our international presence
there was an important differentiation between the FT and WSJ, which has endured and
which remains important. The FT was always much more focussed on the global agenda
and the connections in international trade and finance - our reporters and editing desks
operate much more as a single global team - taking globally significant news and analysis
to each region and taking globally relevant regional stories to a global audience. The WSJ
had a more regional focus and has since become increasingly US-centred, and is
consequently clearly very strong in the US. We see the US as a significant growth market
and have built our team there substantially – for the US but also for our international
audience. Our main advantage in the US is how we take our global coverage - whether it
is EU technology regulation or Chinese economic trends, to US readers. Also, the strongly
independent approach differentiates us from the partisan nature of US media in recent
times.

Other business and finance competitors included Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance (an aggregator of
business news from many sources), broadcaster CNBC, the business sections within general news
providers, and newer ventures like the Morning Brew newsletter. For scoops, the FT competed with its
traditional business-news competitors like the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and Reuters but also
with the business coverage of more general outlets, whose scoops depended largely on individual well-
networked journalists. In the UK, for instance, Sky News had a reputation for breaking business-news
stories. Other players specialized in business niches. For example, Mergermarket (owned by Ion and
previously part of the FT Group), worked to break merger and acquisition stories. The regulatory side
of financial and business news was well covered by competitors like Politico. The technology sector
was covered by many sources, many of them having significant business coverage.

Business Models
News organizations generated revenues from two main sources: readers paid for content, and
organizations paid to reach the news audience (advertising being one of the primary methods). There
were other revenue streams such as events, syndication, and education. In some cases, news
organisations were supported by the state, charitable grants, individual donations, or ownership by
wealthy individuals.

More than Two Decades of Commercial and Readership Disruption

In the years 2000 to 2023, the importance of readers paying for content as a proportion of (falling)
total revenue had grown in many parts of the news industry. Many major newspapers had erected
paywalls where all content could only be read with a subscription though some used a so-called
“freemium” model where readers were permitted a small number of free articles before having to pay.2
By giving access to some free articles, a newspaper’s stories appeared in more search results creating
more traffic for advertising.3

Although the audiences for news, particularly business news, remained attractive for advertisers,
with the decline of print advertising and a few large technology companies dominating digital
advertising, advertising revenues had fallen dramatically in news companies. For example, advertising
revenue at US newspapers had fallen from a peak of nearly $50 billion in 2005 to under $10 billion by
2020.4 One study predicted that digital advertising at US newspapers would overtake print advertising
by 2026 growing to about $5 billion (in contrast, print advertising revenues were expected to fall from
$7 billion in 2021 to $4.9 billion in 2026).5 At an individual newspaper level, some news organizations
had already seen their own digital advertising surpass print advertising.

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 724-410 The Financial Times (FT) and Generative AI

Many newspapers became financially unviable and were shut, merged, or bought by high-net worth
individuals for philanthropic reasons or as trophies. Globally, there were more than 30,000 news
publishers employing about 541,400 people as of 2022.6 Worldwide revenues from newspaper
publishing was roughly $86 billion in 2022, down around a third from ten years earlier and only about
half what it was in 2005.7 Worldwide, the number of newspaper employees fell from a peak of 931,250
in 2008 to around 541,404 in 2022.8 See Exhibit 2 for global newspaper statistics and Exhibit 3 for the
average profitability of US newspapers.

Finally, commentators worried about newspapers’ role in society; the United Nations (UN)
described the importance of a “free press” as the “cornerstone of democratic societies.”9 Given the
increasing clout of social media firms and the spread of misinformation and so-called “fake news”,
some US commentators felt a separate agency should be created to deal with social media and
consumer data.10 (Refer to Exhibit 4 for an excerpt on the importance of an independent press).

The FT History
The Financial Times (FT) was established in 1888 in London, UK as a four-page journal11 targeted
at the “Honest Financier and the Respectable Broker.”12 In 1893, Douglas MacRae “displayed a stroke
of marketing genius” by printing the paper on light pink colored paper.13 In addition to being instantly
recognizable and distinguishing it from its then-rival, the Financial News, the pink paper brought the
company cost savings as it was less expensive than the white bleached standard.14 In 1945, the Financial
News and Financial Times were merged by Brendan Bracken, retaining the FT name as an eight-page
daily.15 The 1950s saw the paper expand its scope beyond finance, and in 1957, the diversified British
conglomerate, Pearson, acquired the FT.16

During the 1960s, the FT felt greater competitive pressure when The Times began publishing a
business section.17 The FT responded by increasing its foreign coverage and creating new sections
dedicated to emerging technology, management skills, and a Saturday edition.18 The FT expanded into
conferences in 197219 and broadened its international footprint by printing a European edition in
Frankfurt in 1979. US and Asia editions followed, as did more print sites. The company launched the
German language edition FT Deutschland.20 The FT’s How to Spend It magazine gained prominence
since its launch in 1994 by appealing to affluent readers interested in luxury lifestyle stories.21

The Transition to Digital

The FT’s first website, FT.com, launched in 1995 and a year later the company began publishing a
complete online edition.22 The FT hired more than 100 journalists to create content for FT.com, causing
substantial losses in the then separate online division.23

In April 2002, the FT redesigned FT.com and introduced two subscription levels: one for just the
content from the paper and a more expensive one with additional content.24 At the time, the company
continued to offer some free content. After one year, FT.com had 55,000 subscribers, unique visitors of
3.5 million, was roughly breaking-even, and won the New Media Age award for being “head and
shoulders above the rest.”25 In 2004, the FT launched FT Chinese, a Chinese-language news site.26 See
Exhibit 5 for pictures of FT.com’s digital evolution.

In October 2007, the FT was the first major newspaper to launch the “metering” concept whereby a
handful of articles in a month were free before requiring the reader to register for a larger number of
additional articles (initially 25).27 To read more, the reader had to pay. At the time of the change, the
FT had 101,000 online-only subscribers, 6.5 million unique web users each month and was aiming for

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user growth to increase its appeal to advertisers.28 John Ridding, who had become the FT’s CEO in May
2006, recalled: “We re-launched the subscription model mainly to offset plunging print advertising
revenues with a digital stream. We realized the reader data was at least as valuable as the money from
advertising.”29

The FT used its digital learnings about readers to improve the customer experience. The data also
allowed the company to experiment with metering levels – for example, in order to increase traffic to
serve more advertising, the number of free articles was increased or to encourage subscriptions, the
free allocation was decreased. Jon Slade, Chief Commercial Officer of the FT, said: “Critically, we could
target advertising revenue to drive yield. Suddenly our data gave us some scarcity and pricing
power.”30

Another major decision loomed early in Ridding’s tenure – a bold proposal by Caspar de Bono, the
Head of Institution Sales at the time – which involved tearing up agreements with aggregators such as
Factiva and LexisNexis to insisting that customers had contracts directly with the FT.31 Ridding
explained: “Systematically establishing our own direct relationships was a big decision and it put at
risk a few million pounds of high margin revenue. At the time, our P&L was worryingly close to
breakeven and we were concerned about alienating our clients who would be faced with much higher
charges.”32

Rounding out 2007 was the FT’s restructuring from a matrix structure to global reporting lines.
Ridding explained: “One big lesson from the first phase of FT.com was how not to do digital
development where each department in isolation issued a wish list to product teams. We needed a
more cohesive, faster, and simpler organization to break down internal silos.”33

Continued Expansion and Innovation

Given the burgeoning online audience, the FT increasingly was able to identify new opportunities
to continue its global expansion. For example, in the first half of 2008, the FT launched a digital and
print edition in the Middle East, the fifth regional edition.34 Despite the global financial crisis in the
second half of 2008, the FT continued growing online subscriptions to 117,000 paid subscribers and 650
corporate licenses. It launched new products including the FT’s China Confidential (a premium
newsletter on high-quality business data and insights on Chinese companies) and an iPhone app.

Digital development and experimentation flourished; for example, the company started a digital
site called FT Tilt, whereby business leaders from the BRICSa were invited to create content in
cooperation with regional journalists to bring relevant local discussions to new audiences.35 However,
the flow of new content proved to be challenging and the site was shuttered within a couple of years.
Technologically, the FT was one of the first major news publishers to launch an HTML5 app for mobile
in 2011 – including native apps for iOS, Android and Blackberry.36 This, again, was in order to maintain
a direct relationship with the subscriber, bypassing Apple’s AppStore. In 2011, the FT pulled its apps
from the App Store.37

On the paper’s 125th anniversary in 2013, revenues from content and advertising income roughly
equalized for the first time; revenues from content overtook advertising in 2014.38 The company scaled
back its regional editions and reinforced its “digital first” strategy where print began deriving stories
from the web version and journalists published for peak viewing times rather than working towards
print deadlines.39 In a letter to the FT’s journalists, the then-Editor, Lionel Barber wrote, “our news

a BRICS = Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

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editors and reporters will shift further away from reactive news gathering to value-added ‘news in
context’, while remaining faithful to the pursuit of original, investigative journalism.”40

In July 2015, Nikkei acquired the majority of assets within the FT Group from Pearson for £844
million ($1.3 billion).41 Established in 1876 in Japan, Nikkei operated its flagship business paper The
Nikkei, including a number of daily newspapers and affiliated media companies.42 Pearson made the
decision to sell the FT to focus on its core business of global education and Nikkei was keen to expand
its global digital footprint with the FT acquisition.43 Ridding commented: “An ownership change for
an iconic brand like the FT with editorial independence at its core is high-risk. However, we found the
right long-term owner who really supported our values.”44

Over the next few years, the company continued to grow its presence by acquiring a controlling
stake in London-based Alpha Grid in 2016 to facilitate the development of high-quality broadcast,
video, digital, and social content.45 Other investments followed: Silicon Valley’s GIS Planning (focused
on foreign direct investment data in the US) in 2017,46 London’s Sifted (a news site for European early
ventures) in 2019,47 and Amsterdam’s The Next Web (a specialty technology news website) in 2019.48
The FT set up the “Growth Fund” as an internal incubator, which spawned a number of innovations
including the FT Globetrotter website offering travel advice for business travelers.49

Ridding constantly looked for ways to leverage the FT’s brand value – “an underutilized asset” –
into new businesses leading to the creation of Headspring in coordination with Spain’s IE Business
School for executive development,50 and FT Strategies, a consulting arm to help other publishers
prosper in the digital age. Additionally, the FT mobile app was placed back in the App Store by 2017
(users needed to subscribe on FT’s website directly so that the FT could continue to own the subscriber
relationship – it had the added benefit of avoiding sharing revenue with Apple).51

Ridding had set a “North Star” objective in 2016 of reaching one million FT.com subscribers by the
end of 2020, which it achieved almost two years earlier than planned. Ridding summarized his major
lessons throughout the transformation to digital:

The first big lesson is there’s no room for complacency. Second, it’s vital to continue
learning and move beyond the phase where the FT thinks it can do everything ourselves.
Third, the North Star unified the organization. Fourth, Nikkei’s ownership has allowed
us to operate and invest throughout the cycle, as demonstrated throughout COVID-19
where they focused on protecting the long-term strategy. Finally, the organization really
matters – blowing up the matrix and establishing global business lines was as important
as the digital transformation.52

The FT as of 2023
The company posted revenues of £458.4 million ($567 million) in 2022. Whereas in 2007, the FT
earned 69% through print advertising and the remaining 31% through print content, by 2022, 46% came
from digital content and 15% from digital advertising, more than double the proportion from print.53
See Exhibit 6 for more information about revenues.

The FT Group had a number of publications including: Financial Times, FT Weekend, HTSI
(renamed from the previous title How to Spend It), FTChinese.com and specialist publications such as
The Banker, Professional Wealth Management (PWM), and FDI Intelligence.54 In 2023, the digital
paying audience was 1.7 million across its individual subscribers and those with access through their
company’s centrally bought licenses, not including FTChinese and FT Specialist titles.55

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In addition to its print and digital “newspaper,” the company had seven main services including
FT Professional (which sold the FT’s content to businesses and governments), FT Specialist (dedicated
news sites for specific industries), FT Live (global conference), FT Strategies (publishing consulting
services), FT Longitude and Alpha Grid (marketing services), and a series of joint ventures and strategic
partnerships, including Headspring (executive training company) and Wilshire (a data and indices
venture). See Exhibit 7 for a description of FT’s business lines. The FT Group had 2,300 employees, of
which 700 were journalists based in 40 countries.56

Editorial FT executives saw its competitive advantage as the originality, quality, depth, and
unique style of the FT’s journalism and commentary. They believed that all their content reflected
authority, integrity, and accuracy.

The separation of the editorial responsibility from the business side of the FT was known as “church
and state.” The business side did not influence any of the coverage within the newspapers. All the
journalists followed a strict “Editorial Code” which covered the importance of editorial freedom,
avoiding conflict of interest, and social media conduct.57 Roula Khalaf, the FT’s Editor, underscored,
“We have to report and write without fear and without favor. We write with no regards to what our
commercial colleagues are doing, advertisers or what kind of deals may be negotiated. That separation
of “church and state” is what makes the journalism completely independent and trusted.”58

The FT invested in original content, analysis and breaking stories. For example, the FT had received
several accolades for breaking the Wirecard scandal in 2019 where a German payments company had
engaged in corruption and fraudulent financial reporting.59 The FT’s big name columnists such as chief
economics commentator Martin Wolf, editor-at-large Gillian Tett, global business commentator Rana
Foroohar, and chief foreign affairs commentator Gideon Rachman added to the reader proposition.60
Additionally, readers sought in-depth analysis and opinions from the Lex investment service and from
comprehensive reporting such as the “Big Read” series. Certain articles as well as all video and audio
were offered for free and did not require a subscription. Journalists were not incentivized based on the
traffic to their stories.61 Although the competition for the best journalists was fierce, the talented
journalists were often attracted by the FT’s mission. Business roles had been filled by former journalists
from time to time; as Ridding explained: “having the newsroom understanding that can be projected
into the businesses is fantastically powerful.”62 See Exhibit 8 for editorial team growth and published
content statistics.

Subscriptions The FT presented subscription options to readers who arrived on the site from
search engines as well as attracting potential subscribers through search-word advertisements and
other marketing approaches. The relationship between cost to acquire and lifetime customer value was
approximately four to one. The FT management emphasized understanding the willingness to pay of
their customers when making pricing decisions. Slade commented: “A lot of factors go into our
willingness-to-pay calculation such as how long you’ve been a subscriber, your geographic location,
and the extent to which you’ve been engaging with the journalism.”63 See Exhibit 9 for circulation
figures, Exhibit 10 for subscription packages and Exhibit 11 for FT’s subscriber statistics.

Audience Engagement The FT harnessed its data analytics and reader data – through an
internally built system called Lantern – to inform both the editorial team and the product team on key
reader engagement metrics such as the time spent per page, the percentage of the article read (including
reading or leaving comments), and the reader demographics for subscribers (including age, industry,
position and geography). Internally, teams often talked about readers in terms of the “job they’re trying
to do,” such as seeking breaking news, researching a topic in depth, forming an opinion, or being
prepared for the business day. The Lantern system was part of the FT’s “data democratization” efforts

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to ensure everyone in the company had access to reader statistics. Furthermore, the Audience
Engagement team communicated weekly highlights widely to maintain a strong customer focus.
Hannah Sarney, Head of Audience Engagement, explained, “We’re data informed, not data led. There’s
a reason we have humans in the newsroom since they have lived experience. Being data informed helps
put more weight behind hunches and allows us to deliver on the mission of growing the reach and
impact of our journalism.”64

Advertising The FT sold advertising across its digital and print editions including focused
sections, the HTSI magazine, FT Audio, and FT’s specialist magazines such as The Banker. Overall, the
FT properties appealed to advertisers seeking a premium, high-end readership; the FT estimated its
reach at 22.5 million monthly audience globally with an average income of £221,000 ($278,000) per year
and average household net worth of $2.4 million.65 Advertising in the digital edition of FT.com ranged
from $102 CPM (cost per thousand) to $419 CPM for bespoke treatments66 while the global print edition
ran from approximately $52,000 for a smaller ad to $445,000 for a global double-page spread.67 The FT
did not accept any web-based programmatic advertising.

Product and Technology The FT followed an agile product management approach with a
product team of approximately 60 people as of 2023. The role of the team was to evolve the digital
products and ensure unmet customer needs were being addressed; one example of an innovation from
the product team was MyFT, a system that allowed subscribers to receive alerts and save articles. 70
people had data-related roles.

The technology team was over 450 people in three locations: London (UK), Sofia (Bulgaria), and
Manila (Philippines). The infrastructure was cloud-based with Amazon Web Services (AWS) as the
main provider. The FT’s implementation and processes caught the attention of technologists at AWS
who used the FT as a “case study” on cloud adoption and architecture. The technology team worked
with two other major external technology companies: Infosys and Google. Ridding commented:
“there’s a deeper exchange and our partners understand our mission, values and the fact that editorial
comes first.”68

Generative AI within the FT

“With generative AI, you have to think of offense and defence at the same time.”

— Roula Khalaf, FT Editor

As of 2023, generative AI had created a lively discussion within the company as it had in other news
organizations (see Exhibit 12 for expected adoption by US newspapers). From an editorial standpoint,
the FT was at the forefront of covering generative AI in the news and had released a succession of
deeply researched stories as well as a popular data visualization model (see Exhibit 13) explaining the
transformer technology. In May 2023, Khalaf, published an op-ed drawing a red line by stating, “Our
journalism will continue to be reported, written and edited by humans who are the best in their
fields.”69

The newsroom had started to use generative AI for specific tasks to aid journalists in the creation of
original content, always with human oversight and citing clearly and transparently when and how it
had been employed. See Exhibit 14 for Khalaf’s article. Ridding sent a memo to all staff outlining FT’s
AI principles (see Exhibit 15 for excerpts). Matt Garrahan, Head of Digital Platforms, explained how
AI was being used, “There are really two ways we’re thinking about using AI in the newsroom today:

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to enhance the reader experience and to free up journalists’ time so that they can dig deeper, do more,
and focus on the human side of reporting that AI can never replace.”70

In terms of the future, Garrahan noted:

On the reader experience side of things, we publish explainers that help readers catch up
on a story and get involved in the news as it evolves – these are really popular features.
Tasks like these, which complement original reporting but also rely on it, could easily be
handled by a large language model and then reviewed by humans, so we’re actively
trialling tools for this purpose. We also see potential for AI to help reporters with more
complex, time-consuming aspects of their work. AI tools could, for example, sift through
hundreds of court documents or financial filings much faster than a human. You could
ask the model to pattern-match, for example: find all the instances that a director of this
company bought shares in this second company. Very quickly, you might find a pattern
that could break open a story. Dan McCrum, the FT reporter who broke the Wirecard
fraud story, spent months in a secure room searching documents to trace the beneficial
owners of the shell companies behind Wirecard. If AI could have assisted in this work,
how much more quickly might Dan have broken the story, and how many more deep
investigations might he have been able to pursue in that time?71

The FT team was also exploring using generative AI for its translation abilities. In September 2023,
the company had launched the FT Digital Edition ePaper (a digital replication of the five regional print
versions of the Financial Times) and used generative AI to automatically translate it into 25 languages.
The concept would be tested and depending on its success, potentially rolled out to other digital
properties. Ridding explained the importance: “For a global organization like the FT, translation
expertise through generative AI is potentially very powerful.”72

Another concept involved a new summarization service that would allow a user to search on a
particular company and receive a concise summary based on what the user wanted to know. Working
with partners including Infosys, reflecting Ridding’s belief in the value of key strategic partners, the
service aimed to use generative AI to utilize the FT’s vast archive of articles, audio, video as well as
external market sources in order to generate the text. John Kundert, Chief Product and Technology
Officer, explained, “Large language models allow us to understand our journalism, in new and deeply
interesting ways. It allows FT to create a semantic understanding of everything we produce. This opens
the door for new product experiences.”73

A separate initiative explored how generative AI could offer further personalization by suggesting
categories and personalization features within the MyFT function. This would allow content to be
presented differently depending on the job each user was trying to do. Slade shared his thoughts on
generative AI’s potential, “The direct relationship with our customer is critical, which means we have
to invest in ensuring that our digital properties become destination sites. In a world, where generative
AI potentially disintermediates news sites because it synthesizes news summaries it becomes more
critical than ever and to draw in our audiences and retain them.”74

A further idea was early in development and involved using generative AI in coordination with
humans for comment moderation. The FT was investigating whether generative AI could identify the
best comments to highlight them. The FT’s readership analysis had shown that users who read and
wrote comments were 47 more times engaged than those who did not and users who only read
comments (but did not write) were three times more engaged.

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Finally, the company was considering generative AI to enhance the company’s data visualization
output.

The initiatives were at different stages of development with the translation service being the only
one to have been launched. The FT was using a gated approach to investments, setting interim goals
for minimal viable products prior to investing more. The initiatives required existing generative AI
transformer technology from Google and then training it on the FT’s rich data archive of digitized
articles in addition to first-party customer data. Already, the company was using AI technologies (both
generative and non-generative) for content tagging and data processing, barrier-page optimization for
non-subscribers, data analytics for customer acquisition, adapting marketing campaigns, translating
and creating text from speech, protecting against cyber-attacks, and developing code.

Regulation had been a prominent topic of internal discussions at the FT. Executives recalled that
regulations throughout the digital era – including the EU’s (European Union) General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR) – had proved challenging for many. While regulations for generative AI were in
flux throughout the world, the EU had tabled a law for AI under 2021’s EU AI Act that aimed to protect
human rights by classifying AI applications into varying risk levels and mandating certain
development and use guidelines based on those risk levels.75,76

Another regulatory topic was the use of intellectual property (IP) by generative AI models. For
example, the FT was currently evaluating an appropriate monetary value for allowing companies to
use the FT’s news archive to train generative AI models. As Ridding remarked: “Regulation is going to
be hugely important. The players are big global tech companies and the regulators are national or
regional. There’s going to be some very difficult conversations since AI companies use news feeds to
train their bots and there needs to be recognition of the value that’s created.”77

Generating the Future

Sitting in Tokyo, Ridding considered the meeting of his leadership team he was planning when he
returned to London. He thought about an article by Reed Hoffman, published a few days earlier in the
FT. “Artificial intelligence will reshape all of our lives”78 the co-founder of LinkedIn had written. “Only
a few innovations have had the potential to shape us in this way. The last two were the internet and
mobile phones.”79 Ridding knew he would have to tell his team that they had done a great job
navigating those first two, but that they need to score a hat-trick of disruption successes if they were to
keep winning. That would require a two-speed approach – a fast focus on the immediate opportunities
and deeper work to understand the potentially radical wave of changes in the information industry.
That implied deep innovation, rather than just iteration and the kind of adjacent opportunities
suggested by new services such as LinkedIn. It meant addressing the risks to the core business and
mission of original quality journalism, including through disintermediation of established brands, so
that the FT remained a dynamic destination for unique journalism. One thing he knew: “Write it, and
they will come”80 would not be sufficient for sustained success.

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Exhibit 1 Key Facts of Financial Times and Wall Street Journal

As of FY2022 Financial Times Wall Street Journal

Head office London, UK New York, US
Date Established 1888 1889
Parent Company Nikkei Dow Jones/News Corp
Format & Frequency 6 days/week 6 days/week
Digital Subscription Prices (in the US) $40/month $36.99/month
Subscribers (Digital & Print) 1.2 million 3.97 million
Print Circulation 120,000 654,000
Average Unique Monthly Users 22.4 million 51 million

Background on The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones & Company

• Dow Jones & Company was established in 1882 in New York by journalists Charles Dow,
Edward Jones and Charles Bergstresser to publish business newsletters81; The Wall Street
Journal was created as a four-page newspaper in 1889 and later the Dow Jones Industrial
Average (DJIA) stock index in 1896, eventually becoming a globally-recognized stock index82

• The first digital version of The Wall Street Journal started in 1993 as a “software as a service”
distributed by computer disks where users dialed in for updates; the first website followed in
1995 as the “Money & Investing Update” and then the Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition
(WSJ.com) website launched in 1996 (with the first major re-design in 2002)83

• In 2007, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp acquired Dow Jones for $5 billion, which at the time
included The Wall Street Journal, the weekly financial magazine Barron’s, MarketWatch
website, Dow Jones Newswires, and the news database Factiva84

• The WSJ.com website grew to include a live online news broadcast, expansion into regional
websites for Europe, Asia, and India, and an iPhone app in 200985

• As of 2023, The Wall Street Journal collected first-party data from having a direct relationship
with its subscribers; the company’s chief revenue officer Josh Stinchcomb stated: “We possess
extensive insights into who our users are, often extending to their industry and job function,
allowing for precise targeting and extracting valuable insights on user preferences, reading
times, and formats. This information empowers us to offer valuable advice and create tailored
content for specific audiences, such as CFOs, leveraging our understanding of their
preferences.”86

• At its fiscal year end in 2023, Dow Jones posted revenues of $2.153 billion and segment EBITDA
of $494 million, representing 22% and 35% of News Corp’s overall revenue and EBTIDA87
Source: Compiled by casewriters from; Financial Times company information; Wall Street Journal based on News Corp
Annual Report 2023, June 30, 2023, https://investors.newscorp.com/sec-filings, accessed September 10, 2023;
“Average circulation of the Wall Street Journal from 2018 to 2023,” Statista, https://www.statista.com/
statistics/193788/average-paid-circulation-of-the-wall-street-journal/, accessed October 16, 2023.

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Exhibit 2 Newspaper Industry Revenues and Number of Employees

Global Newspaper Industry Revenues (in USD millions)

Number of Employees in the Global Newspaper Industry (full values)

Source: “Global Newspaper Publishing,” IBIS World, June 2023, https://www.ibisworld.com/global/market-research-

reports/global-newspaper-publishing-industry/, accessed September 13, 2023.

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Exhibit 3 Newspaper P&L average breakdown in the US

3-Year 5-Year 10-Year

Industry Multiples
EBIT/Revenue 10.8% 9.8% 10.0%
EBITDA/Revenue 18.3% 16.2% 16.3%
Leverage Ratio 7.5% 9.9% 11.6%

Income Statement
Total Revenue 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Business receipts 93.5% 93.4% 93.1%
Cost of goods 25.1% 25.2% 26.5%
Gross Profit 74.9% 74.8% 73.5%

Expenses
Salaries and wages 20.0% 21.2% 21.6%
Advertising 2.8% 2.5% 2.2%
Depreciation 2.7% 2.6% 2.6%
Depletion 0.2% 0.1% 0.1%
Amortization 4.6% 3.6% 3.6%
Rent paid 2.6% 2.4% 2.0%
Repairs 1.4% 1.3% 1.1%
Bad debts 1.7% 1.2% 0.8%
Employee benefit programs 3.4% 3.5% 3.4%
Compensation of officers 4.4% 3.2% 2.4%
Taxes paid 3.5% 3.3% 3.2%
Interest income 4.8% 3.0% 1.6%

Other Income
Royalties 2.4% 1.5% 0.9%
Rent Income 1.3% 0.9% 0.6%
Net Income 2.3% 2.9% 3.3%

Balance Sheet
Current Assets 37.3% 30.5% 24.9%
Other assets 62.7% 69.5% 75.1%
Current Liabilities 28.9% 23.7% 18.5%
Other Liabilities 26.2% 24.8% 32.8%
Equity/Net Worth 44.9% 51.5% 48.7%

Ratios
Current Ratio 1.3 1.3 1.4
Return on Equity/Net Worth % 21.4% 16.0% 14.2%
Return on Assets % 8.6% 7.1% 6.1%

Source: “Newspaper Publishing in the US,” IBIS World, February 2023, https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/market-
research-reports/newspaper-publishing-industry/, accessed May 7, 2023.

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Exhibit 4 Excerpt from Harvard Journal of Law & Technology

“In a world of multiple concentrations of political, associational, and corporate power, only an
equally powerful press can consistently act as a watchdog, ferreting out misuses of power and exposing
them to the light of public opinion. An independent, civicminded press also serves a vital function of
catalyzing and, to a degree, embodying public opinion in the face of government authority and
corporate fiefdom. No less importantly, in its news stories, op-ed pages, pundit debates, cultural
reviews, and reader comments, the best of the institutional press presents a forum for deliberation and
debate, a place where citizens encounter a diversity of views presenting arguments based in fact.
Finally, although they are far from infallible, journalistic enterprises that engage in original,
investigative reporting share a professional commitment to uncovering and providing factually
accurate information.”
Source: Excerpted from Neil Weinstock Netanel, “Mandating digital platform support for quality journalism,” Harvard
Journal of Law & Technology, March 22, 2021, https://jolt.law.harvard.edu/assets/articlePDFs/v34/3.-Netanel-
Mandating-Digital-Platform-Support-for-Quality-Journalism.pdf, accessed May 10, 2023.

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Exhibit 5 FT’s Digital Evolution

FT.com in 2003

FT.com in 2013

Source: FT.com via Internet Archive Wayback Machine, 2003 from December 6, 2003, https://web.archive.org/web/
20031206065158/http://news.ft.com/home/europe/; 2013 from January 4, 2013, https://web.archive.org/web/
20130104051311/http://www.ft.com/home/uk, accessed September 20, 2023.

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Exhibit 5 (continued)

FT.com in 2023

Source: FT.com, September 20, 2023, company documents.

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Exhibit 6 FT’s Revenues (financial figures in GBP millions)

Source: Company documents.

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Exhibit 7 FT’s Business Lines

Business Line Description

Personal Subscriptions Content to individuals through subscription packages
FT Professional Content to businesses, organizations, governments, and data aggregators
FT Specialist Content and publications for specific industries including: Agenda (boardrooms),
Banking Risk & Regulation (banking), Board IQ (mutual fund boards), CPG
Specialist (food and beverage), Endpoints (biopharma), FDI Intelligence (foreign
direct investment), Financial Advisor IQ (financial brokers), FT Adviser (intermediary
market), Fundfire (asset management), Health Payer Specialist (health plans),
Ignites (US mutual and ETFs), Investor’s Chronicle (private investors), Life Annuity
(life insurance), Mandate Wire (asset managers), P&C specialist (insurance), PWM
(wealth management), Sustainable Views (ESG), and The Banker (banking).
FT Commercial Creation of content for other organizations
Longitude Branding agency providing services to other organizations
FT Live Professional events organizer
FT Strategies Consulting services for other organizations
Headspring Executive development in coordination with IE Business School
Alphagrid Content production studio
Wilshire Data, indices, research and insights for institutional investors

Source: Compiled by casewriters from “What we offer,” Financial Times, https://aboutus.ft.com/services, accessed
September 28, 2023; “Institutional Investors,” Wilshire, https://www.wilshire.com/clients/institutional-investors,
accessed September 28, 2023.

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Exhibit 8 Editorial Team Growth (costs in GBP millions) and Published Content

Source: Company documents.

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Exhibit 9 FT’s Print Circulation

Source: Company documents.

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Exhibit 10 FT Subscription packages

Source: Company documents.

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Exhibit 11 FT Subscriber Statistics and Audience Engagement

Source: Company documents.

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Exhibit 11 (continued)

Source: Company documents.

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Exhibit 11 (continued)

Source: Company documents.

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Exhibit 12 AI in Publishing

Source: “Artificial intelligence (AI) and publishing in the United States,” Statista, 2023, accessed via Statista, September 7, 2023.

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Exhibit 13 Data visualization of Generative AI and Transformer Technology

Source: Visual Storytelling team and Madhumita Murgia, “Generative AI exists because of the transformer,” Financial Times,
September 12, 2023, https://ig.ft.com/generative-ai/, accessed September 24, 2023.

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Exhibit 14 Letter from the editor on generative AI and the FT

“In its more than 130-year history the Financial Times has upheld the highest standards of journalism.
As editor of this newspaper, nothing matters to me more than the trust of readers in the quality journalism
we produce. Quality means above all accuracy. It also means fairness and transparency.

That’s why today I am sharing my current thinking on the use of generative artificial intelligence in the
newsroom.

Generative AI is the most significant new technology since the advent of the internet. It is developing at
breakneck speed and its applications, and implications, are still emerging. Generative AI models learn from
huge amounts of published data, including books, publications, Wikipedia and social media sites, to predict
the most likely next word in a sentence.

This innovation is an increasingly important area of coverage for us and I am determined to make the FT
an invaluable source of information and analysis on AI in the years to come. But it also has obvious and
potentially far-reaching implications for journalists and editors in the way we approach our daily work, and
could help us in our analysis and discovery of stories. It has the potential to increase productivity and
liberate reporters and editors’ time to focus on generating and reporting original content.

However, while they appear to be very articulate and plausible, AI models on the market today are
ultimately a prediction engine and they are learning from the past. They can fabricate facts — this is what is
referred to as “hallucinations” — and make up references and links. If sufficiently manipulated, AI models
can produce entirely false images and articles. They also replicate the existing societal perspectives,
including historic biases.

It is my conviction that our mission to produce journalism of the highest standards is all the more
important in this era of rapid technological innovation. At a time when misinformation can be generated
and spread rapidly and trust in the media in general has declined, we at the FT have a greater responsibility
to be transparent, to report the facts and to pursue the truth. That is why FT journalism in the new AI age
will continue to be reported and written by humans who are the best in their fields and who are dedicated
to reporting on and analysing the world as it is, accurately and fairly.

The FT is also a pioneer in the business of digital journalism and our business colleagues will embrace
AI to provide services for readers and clients and sustain our record of effective innovation. Our newsroom
too must remain a hub for innovation. It is important and necessary for the FT to have a team in the
newsroom that can experiment responsibly with AI tools to assist journalists in tasks such as mining data,
analysing text and images and translation. We won’t publish photorealistic images generated by AI but we
will explore the use of AI-augmented visuals (infographics, diagrams, photos) and when we do we will
make that clear to the reader. This will not affect artists’ illustrations for the FT. The team will also consider,
always with human oversight, generative AI’s summarising abilities.

We will be transparent, within the FT and with our readers. All newsroom experimentation will be
recorded in an internal register, including, to the extent possible, the use of third-party providers who may
be using the tool. Training for our journalists on the use of generative AI for story discovery will be provided
through a series of masterclasses.

Every technology opens exciting new frontiers that must be responsibly explored. But as recent history
has shown, the excitement must be accompanied by caution over the risk of misinformation and the
corruption of the truth. The FT will remain committed to its fundamental mission and will keep readers
informed as generative AI itself and our thinking on it evolve.”

Source: Roula Khalaf, “Letter from the editor on generative AI and the FT,” Financial Times, May 26, 2023,
https://www.ft.com/content/18337836-7c5f-42bd-a57a-24cdbd06ec51, accessed September 8, 2023.

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Exhibit 15 Memo to all FT Staff from John Ridding

“Dear all, Artificial Intelligence has become a prominent topic of discussion in business and society, as
consumer friendly chatbots - like ChatGPT and Bard - have allowed people to experience the potential of
generative AI and experiment with its current capabilities.

AI has also become a prime topic of conversation across the media sector, prompting lots of debate about the
pros and cons of adopting it - and speculation about its future evolution. So it’s timely to set out the FT’s approach
to it, in terms of the principles that shape our thinking; the internal governance structures for this and similar
technologies; and some of our current use cases to illustrate where it fits in our technology mix.

While you may be using AI tools in your personal life, we require you to abide by the FT’s governance
framework when using AI applications at work. A detailed usage policy for generative AI, which applies to use
cases other than journalism, can be found here. Roula has also written a letter to readers outlining her vision for
AI as it relates to our journalism.

Principles guiding our approach to AI are these:

1. We will not allow AI to compromise the integrity of our journalism: We may use AI to assist journalists in
discovery of stories, but articles will be reported and written by our journalists and editors, among the best in the
world.

2. We are committed to respecting data privacy: We respect our customers’ and employees’ privacy and will
use their data only within the boundaries of data protection laws. All employees handling any form of personal
data must understand and adhere to FT’s policies on data usage. No personal data, confidential or sensitive
information should ever be put into a GAI tool without Data Governance Council approval.

3. We will protect our own intellectual property, brand and business: We insist that organisations must not use
the FT’s content for generative AI, by any means, without explicit permission. Insofar as possible, we will police
and prohibit any use of our content without licensing. Separate criteria have been developed for the framing of
any licensing arrangement with third parties.

4. We will use AI where it enhances our business: The FT has a tradition of adopting technologies that support
our business and enhance our subscriber and customer experience. This is also the case with AI, deployed within
the rules of our governance framework.

5. We support innovation in AI, including Generative AI (GAI): The FT is committed to supporting the
development and use of innovative technologies that help people and organisations make better decisions. We
will work with a select number of organisations to advance the use of GAI for both academic and commercial
purposes. We may also deploy GAI in commercial applications, within strict parameters.

Governance of AI

While ultimate oversight and authority on AI rests with the FT management board, and with the editor as it
applies to our journalism, delegated responsibility for decision making in relation to the FT Group’s data strategy,
data protection and AI, sits with the Data Governance Council. The Council will track the evolving AI regulatory
and ethical landscape and respond accordingly. Any decisions about AI use across the FT Group will need to be
taken by the Council, which will keep the board informed. Any proposal to deploy AI technology that runs
contrary to our principles and policy must be flagged to the Council in advance via [the Data team}. All staff will
need to adhere to our AI principles and policies to help us manage risk.

Source: John Ridding, “Memo to all staff,” Financial Times, May 2023, company documents.

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Endnotes

1 “LinkedIn Business Highlights from Microsoft’s FY23 Q4 Earnings,” LinkedIn, July 25, 2023, https://news.
linkedin.com/2023/july/linkedin-business-highlights-from-microsoft-s-fy23-q4-earnings, accessed September 20, 2023.
2 “Newspaper Publishing in the US,” IBIS World, February 2023, accessed via IBISWorld, May 7, 2023.

3 “Newspaper Publishing in the US,” IBIS World, February 2023, accessed via IBISWorld, May 7, 2023.

4 “Newspapers Fact Sheet,” Pew Research Center, June 29, 2021, https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-
sheet/newspapers/, accessed September 27, 2023.
5 Sara Fischer, “U.S. digital newspaper ad revenue expected to surpass print by 2026,” Axios, June 21, 2022,
https://www.axios.com/2022/06/21/digital-newspaper-ad-revenue-print, accessed October 3, 2023.
6 “Global Newspaper Publishing,” IBIS World, June 2023, accessed via IBISWorld, September 13, 2023.

7 “Global Newspaper Publishing,” IBIS World, June 2023, accessed via IBISWorld, September 13, 2023.

8 “Global Newspaper Publishing,” IBIS World, June 2023, accessed via IBISWorld, September 13, 2023.

9 “Free press ‘a cornerstone’ of democratic societies, UN says,” United Nations, May 3, 2021,
https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/05/1091132, accessed May 11, 2023.
10 Devin Coldewey, “Who regulates social media?,” Tech Crunch, October 19, 2020,
https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/19/who-regulates-social-media/, accessed May 11, 2023.
11 Josh Hollis & Lucy Hooker, “How the Financial Times has rolled with the times,” BBC, July 23, 2015,
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-33635342, accessed September 6, 2023.
12 “The History of the Financial Times,” Reuters, July 23, 2015, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pearson-m-a-
financialtimes-history-idUSKCN0PX2G120150723, accessed September 6, 2023.
13 David Kynaston, “A Brief History of the Financial Times,” Gale, 2018,
https://www.gale.com/binaries/content/assets/gale-us-en/primary-sources/intl-gps/intl-gps-essays/full-ghn-contextual-
essays/ghn_essay_ftha_kynaston1_website.pdf, accessed September 6, 2023.
14 “2023 marks 130 years since the FT began printing on pink paper,” Financial Times, https://aboutus.ft.com/company/ft-
pink-130, accessed September 6, 2023.
15 David Kynaston, “A Brief History of the Financial Times,” Gale, 2018,
https://www.gale.com/binaries/content/assets/gale-us-en/primary-sources/intl-gps/intl-gps-essays/full-ghn-contextual-
essays/ghn_essay_ftha_kynaston1_website.pdf, accessed September 6, 2023.
16 “The History of the Financial Times,” Reuters, July 23, 2015, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pearson-m-a-
financialtimes-history-idUSKCN0PX2G120150723, accessed September 6, 2023.
17 David Kynaston, “A Brief History of the Financial Times,” Gale, 2018,
https://www.gale.com/binaries/content/assets/gale-us-en/primary-sources/intl-gps/intl-gps-essays/full-ghn-contextual-
essays/ghn_essay_ftha_kynaston1_website.pdf, accessed September 6, 2023.
18 David Kynaston, “A Brief History of the Financial Times,” Gale, 2018,
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 The Financial Times (FT) and Generative AI 724-410

47 “FT backs launch of Sifted, a new media site for Europe’s entrepreneurs,” Financial Times, January 31, 2019, https://about
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53 “About the FT Group,” Company Presentation, 2023, company documents.

54 “About the FT Group,” Company Presentation, 2023, company documents.

55 “About the FT Group,” Company Presentation, 2023, company documents.

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62 Interview with casewriters, John Ridding, CEO, Financial Times, September 26, 2023.

63 Interview with casewriters, Jon Slade, Chief Commercial Office, Financial Times, September 14, 2023.

64 Interview with casewriters, Hannah Sarney, Head of Audience Engagement, Financial Times, September 19, 2023.

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69 Roula Khalaf, “Letter from the editor on generative AI and the FT,” Financial Times, May 26, 2023,
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71 Written email, Matt Garrahan, Head of Digital Platforms, Financial Times, October 12, 2023.

72 Interview with casewriters, John Ridding, CEO, Financial Times, September 11, 2023.

73 Interview with casewriters, John Kundert, Chief Product and Technology Officer, Financial Times, September 14, 2023.

74 Interview with casewriters, Jon Slade, Chief Commercial Office, Financial Times, September 14, 2023.

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