Pearson hunts new chairman
Financial Times-to-Penguin publisher Pearson was today said to be on the hunt for a new chairman after Lord Stevenson decided to step down from the role after eight years.
The company, which will unveil full-year results tomorrow, is understood to have taken on head-hunters to find a successor – but believes chief executive Marjoram Scardino should stay on for at least another three years.
Lord Stevenson decided to quit because he has been on the board of the FTSE 100 company for 20 years and believes it is time to move on, reports said.
According to the Sunday Telegraph, he feels it is time to leave before shareholders criticise him for staying in the job too long.
Nobody from the company was available to comment on the reports, but it is thought he will go as soon as a replacement is found.
Pearson has changed dramatically over Lord Stevenson’s time as chairman, selling assets such as Madame Tussauds and becoming primarily an education business.
In December, it announced the sale of its majority stake in the media group that owns Spain’s most read daily newspaper Marca.
The company owns the Financial Times, Economist and publishing house Penguin. It has stemmed losses at the Financial Times and believes its strategy of investing in education will reap rewards in the coming two years.
Analysts are expecting tomorrow’s results to show a slight fall in revenues mainly due to the weak US dollar, although operating margins should have improved.
