twocine: welcome leaders with lacqua. earlier this year it sold two of its most well known brands. i speak with the group's ceo, john fallon about the impact of selling those established brands. thank you for speaking to bloomberg. we have been talking about the sale for as long as i can remember. when you do decide it was first

out? john: there wasn't a single moment. i think it was a progressive process that i have said all along, and has been important to me, to ask ourselves honestly are we the best owners of the financial times for the longer term. pearson have been fantastic owners for 50 years. we have been great guardians of the editorial integrity and quality. we have helped the ft to become global from analog to digital. inflection point is a greatly overused word but in this case i think it is entirely relevant and appropriate. seeingingly we are now more and more people accessing news analysis, journalism

through social media, through twitter and facebook and all sorts of emerging channels and we're seeing more people making mobileft from desktop to . that is a huge opportunity for the financial times. it can reach its journalism to more people than ever before in its history. it is a challenge in that it has to remake and rethink how it makes themselves it's journalism. that requires absolute attention and focus. i think it requires scale as well. the ft is a 300 million pound journalism business in a 5 billion pounds education business. it was going to be increasingly difficult not to much from an investment point.

investment we could have dealt with. but to bring the focus, the clarity, additional insight and expertise, and the scale that is required by that focus on being the very best of journalism. leaders with lacqua essentially -- francine: it is difficult to make money because of social media. it is becoming harder? john: the ft does make money. last year profits of 24 million pounds on sales of 300 million pounds. i believe the ft has a sustainable and profitable ofure but the best way ensuring it can maximize that is by being part of a company that is completely and actually focus on journalism. that is what nikkei brings. i've been in the business of global journalism is a great thing to be in.

being in the business of global education likewise important to the future of the world and a great opportunity to grow but those are two quite different horses and you can ride them both simultaneously. francine: was there any moment you thought actually, it is such a great brand we shouldn't be letting it go? john: personally, a hugely difficult decision for me. when i joined pearson in 1997 ownership of the ft was one of the things that attracted me. ironically the synergy between the ft and the rest of pearson or greater now than any time since 87 and the time i have been with pearson. they can be achieved through partnership, and one of the ways we got to know nikkei was through the partnership we formed with them about english language teaching in japan over the last few years.

so personally, emotionally, a difficult decision for me, difficult decision for the board. not one we took lightly. it was a year or more of deliberate process of making sure we evaluated work through the different factors. one that was taken after theultation,, engaging leadership of the ft as well and unmistakably reaching this conclusion that this is a time when journalism is being , and myt and reinvented job was to get ft the best crack. francine: the final contract with nikkei, you preserve -- i don't know if you get lawyers thelved but you reserve

independence of the ft? john: my view is that what is most important is to find the right owner. you judge the right owner in terms of the culture, the values, the leadership and the track record. acknowledgedd hav pearson has been a good owner of the financial times. there is not a word set down anywhere. there is no governance. there is no structure. when i took over from a predecessor there was no document that says it is there because it is an the culture. the we were thinking about best future owner of the ft, that was the way that we approached it. you can put in place any sort of document or constitutional arrangement but frankly i think culture matters more.

i do think there is that real commitment to editorial independence. i think they value the ft. document, itublic sets out for more clearly than workort of constitutional ing party could. francine: coming up, educational, digital content drivers shaping the pearson business. john: technology is much more about how do you make the teaching and learning much more effective, in gauging. francine: back with more on that exclusive conversation with pearson ceo john fallon. ♪

francine: the publishing industry had been impacted by the rapid growth of digital technologies. john fallon tells me exclusively how he adapted the business to thrive in this ever-changing environment. john: in education technology is much more about how do you make the teaching and learning much more effective, in gauging, how you provide greater insights. let's take starbucks employee

at down, and they get stuck on a problem. are there adaptive programs, perhaps it will make it easier and help them through with the problems they are doing online. if they are finding it easy to do, maybe getting bored we push them onto something more challenging. if we see they are trying to master it concept, do you want help here and now? ,t could be someone in india they pop up in chat or on skype. it is much more adaptable and driven by the needs of the stirrup. you are using the technology, you're making better use of data analytics. it is obviously much more scalable and affordable as well.

what we do in that example, we can help the 22-year-old graduate in china who has a great grammar in english but lacks the fluency to get the job with a global corporation. in another way we can help the parents in a poor country in africa who knows that left to their own devices there is a 50% chance after five years of schooling the child will not not master basic literacy. john: you've lost some conference in the u.s.. francine: are you looking at emerging markets? that looks to be where there is more growth potential. john: in america, in the first six months of the year, revenues were at 3%. the best growth we've had in the last few years. our competitive performance in

higher education and large parts of our schools is strong. we did lose a couple of contracts in one small part of the company but in the overall context of the business performances strong. america is two thirds of our business today. the biggest single growth opportunity for pearson is helping to make education much more accessible, affordable and effective for people in america in the way i have described. yes, we do see the growth opportunities in china and brazil, across sub-saharan africa. obviously with the recent events over the summer, these markets are challenged in many ways. but, there is still a large growing middle class who has

great aspirations for their children and themselves, and for who better quality education training is an important part. we do see big opportunities there as well. francine: given the emerging markets, are you worried about a global recession? john: clearly, it is something that the ceo of a global company should worry about. read the ft and everything else to get the best view that i can. i think it is important to focus on fundamentals in these times. a good example would be brazil. times are difficult particularly in the public sector. we have a great management team doing a good job of bringing together all pearson's different aspects in a way that we think will improve the performance of

the company and allow us to grow over the next few years. alongside the challenges of the public sector and brazil you've got a growing middle class that wants better quality education for their children and and arees unde ready to pay for it. rightne: if you price it is education recession proof? high unemployment, people may want to retrain. john: that is a good part of the story. and of the opportunity certainly. in the last 60 years, higher education business is countercyclical. through these cycles, there is a systemic growth. you tend to see faster growth in the early years of the recession. as somebody famous once

said do you think education is expensive, try ignorance. ofre is an understanding education is the best investment you can make. , returns onat that investment and education for thaniduals is greater now at any other time in human history. biggest: one of the shakeups in the entertainment world. after the break we talk acquisitions, strategy, and leadership. john: if we can find acquisitions that create value to shareholders and long-term sustainable opportunities as well, we will take them. francine: more from john fallon when we return. ♪

francine: welcome back to leaders with lacqua. pearson will gain a billion pounds from the sale of the economist.

what will be do with the money? john: if we can find acquisitions that create value to shareholders and sustainable opportunities as well we will take them. but we don't need to hurry or russian we will do that in the context of other ways. francine: do you worry about currency movements? john: we judge things at constant exchange rates. we are a u.k. listed company. clearly the most important exchange rate that our shareholders look at is the pound dollar exchange rate. over the cycle we and most shareholders would look through that. clearly you look at events in brazil at the moment, that is at a place where it will be priority for capital but we will see how things emerge. francine: we have talked about

divestments and acquisition targets. will you sell your stay? john: random house is performing exceptionally well. we own 47%. have an established process in the shareholder by week and we can -- francine: and they are interested. john: we are at a point where as they said we have plenty of capital to deploy at the moment. performing well. we're in the process of combining the two operations in areas like warehousing, distribution, finance and technology systems. we are probably a year away from peaks synergies. while it is something that we look at, which i wouldn't rule out in the future, i don't think you should think it is a

priority. francine: probably not 2015 or 2016. john: probably not know. -- weay i think we will are happy with the performance of the business. it is doing well. the decision we would make would be based on a view of what the would be.nd growth i think will be a view of what is best likely to deliver the highest returns to shareholders and grow the business sustainably. about johnalk to me fallon the leader. what is your biggest inspiration? is there a figure you look for inspiration? john: one of the things that attracted me to pearson in the first place, my predecessor always talked about the fact

that every great company has to have a purpose. the profits derived from doing something important and meaningful to society and doing it incredibly well. so, what is important to mean and important to all 40,000 people in the company, who have the leadership roles to play in their different way, we have the opportunity to make the most important thing in the society and communities that we work alongside health and basic human needs. education, more available to more people around the world. a purpose driven organization, and understanding that profits derived from doing something important and doing it well. francine: this is a catch 22. this cradle comes from you.

it is not a company. john: it is a mutually reinforcing thing. it is something that i learned and take from colleagues around the world each and every day. it is what every member of the board with think is important to the company. it is what matters to our customers, what matters to parents and communities in which we operate around the world. that holdingsince yourself to that, that is what we talked to this thing about efficacy, those are all saying our purpose is to help people make progress through learning. it sounds fantastic but are you actually doing it each and every day? accessibility,ng helping teachers and students to be successful? are you translating that academic success into a better

life and better career, and handsome -- and enhanced employment? that is the ultimate test. providing the idea and reality with what you do each day is fundamental to the leadership of pearson which comes not just from me but every person who works for the company. francine: is there advice you were given on being a leader? not taking yourself too seriously, but always taking the work seriously. it is important. perspective.se of and never losing sight of that purpose and why you exist. having that strong moral compass and trying to do the right thing for the right reasons is important. , probably thenote

best bit of advice is from my kids and colleagues on a daily basis, try to be less grumpy, try to listen more effectively to people. quite good advice as well. francine: where do you see yourself in five years? i see pearson in five years is what matters. there is an opportunity as the company will do something important, and to fulfill that potential. the ultimate measure of where pearson is in five years time, i be helping more people around the world in the poorest members of society through to the emerging middle class, to the wealthiest economies in the world? we helping more people to translate the promise of education into the reality of a

better life? createo that we will gree value to our shareholders like i believe we have over the last decade. francine: thank you for joining us. thank you very much. ♪

emily: more trouble for karen theranos. elizabeth tells us they're only using it on one of 100. ♪ emily: i'm emily chang on "bloomberg west." coming up, legendary tech investors tell us what it takes to view industry leaders like bill gates, jeff bezos, and