John Ridding is the Chief Executive Officer of the FT Group, one of the world’s leading news organisations recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy and for its global perspective.

 

Under his stewardship, the FT has expanded its global operations and transformed itself into a digital business, pioneering the reader-revenue or subscription model now widely adopted across news media. Despite the disruption in the news media sector, the FT has reached record levels of readership, passing the milestone one million subscriber mark earlier this year.

 

In his 32 years at the FT, John has held a wide range of roles on both the editorial and business side of the organisation. As a foreign correspondent, he was based in Hong Kong, Paris and Seoul and regularly reported from mainland China, Japan, India and Indonesia. He was managing editor, features editor and deputy editor before joining the business side of the organisation.

 

He led the launch of the FT’s Asia edition in 2003, steering it to a series of commercial and editorial successes.  John also led the development of the FT’s Chinese language website, which now has more than 2m users and is the leading international source of business news in China. 

John was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the FT Group in May 2006. He managed the acquisition of the FT by Nikkei of Japan in 2015 and serves as a Special Executive Director of Nikkei. He is co-chair of Nikkei’s Digital Strategy Committee and sits on Nikkei’s Global Investment Committee.

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The FT now attracts the largest paying readership in its 131-year history, with more than three quarters of its readers coming from digital. The FT has won a series of awards for its strategy and its coverage and is recognised as an industry leader in innovation and digital development and a champion of quality journalism.

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John has held a number of non-executive board positions, including the Economist, and FTSE (the joint venture between the FT and the London Stock Exchange).  He continues to sit on the board of Bonnier News, part of the international media conglomerate Bonnier AB. 

In addition to his business roles, John is on the board of Room to Read, a San-Francisco based global charity that supports learning and literacy in low income countries – with a focus on girls’ education.

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He graduated from Oxford University with a first class honours degree in philosophy, politics and economics. John lives with his family in London. His other interests include music, running, surfing and scuba diving.