Will it still be business as usual for the Pink'Un?

Copies of the Financial Times newspaper sit in a rack at a news stand in London on July 23.[Photo/Agencies]

I am a huge fan of the Financial Times.

However, the $1.3 billion acquisition of the pink-colored newspaper and its online business by the Japanese media firm Nikkei Inc on July 23 has left me in a state of shock about what it means for the famous British title - long considered the very model of global business and economics coverage.

In my mind, the London-based daily with its nearly 125 years of history is a symbol of integrity in the West.

Established 139 years ago and with 36 offices around the world, Nikkei is Japan's top business newspaper, which has until now focused on Japanese readers. Even with its Chinese-language website, the company's influence is considered limited in comparison.

The BBC's economics editor Robert Peston tweeted that the acquisition had left him "desperately sad", a sentiment echoed by many others in his profession.

After announcing the deal, Naotoshi Okada, the president and CEO of Nikkei, insisted: "The FT will remain the FT. Nikkei is Nikkei. The editorial cultures of each other will be respected. If there are any problems, we will talk them out."

Its chairman Tsuneo Kita even admitted he was unfamiliar with the FT, since his English is not "fluent".

"I don't have the skill to read it, but I do gaze upon it," he said.

But if language is one simple concern, the culture clash might be an even more crucial anxiety for many devotees of the Pink'Un, as the FT is often fondly referred.

Quite simply one of the world's most international and influential publications, the FT's value depends not so much on the news it reports, but greater on the insightful analysis it delivers.

Its editorial worth over the years has been based on not only the integrity and experience of its journalists and columnists, many of them lifelong fans themselves, but also the "hands-off" approach of its previous owner, Pearson Plc, the publishing and education company.