Some 100
journalists on the Times Educational Supplement and associated titles
faced an uncertain future this week after they were sold for £235m to
Exponent Private Equity.
Late this week journalists had yet to
receive any guarantees over jobs, but they were due to meet new chief
executive Bernard Gray, formerly in charge of magazine publisher CMPi,
on Thursday.
Uncertainty over the future of TSL Education – which
comprises TES, Times Higher Education Supplement and Nursery World –
was deepened by the fact that the titles are Exponent’s first
acquisition since it was founded with a £400m fund last year.
Gray was not available for comment. But in an e-mail to TES staff he said: “TSL has a unique relationship with the education community.
“I am certain we can build on that success to make TSL an even greater influence on the world of education than it is today.”
One
TSL journalist said staff had been amused by the “profoundly
metaphorical pics of people reaching the top of summits and
mountain-biking through the desert” on the Exponent web site
www.exponentpe.com.
The TES, founded in 1910, is the first
newspaper to be sold by News International since Rupert Murdoch bought
Times Newspapers in 1981.
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