SWYBY Sanoma Corp (PK)

Pearson PLC and Dow Jones & Co., the owner of The Wall Street Journal, said Friday that they would sell their stakes in the Russian business newspaper Vedomosti.

The move by the companies to divest their holdings was driven by the passage of a Russian law last year that limits the size of a stake a foreign company may hold in a Russian media company to no more than 20%. The law goes into effect on Jan. 1, and the companies said the deal is expected to close before then.

Both Dow Jones and Pearson hold 33.3% stakes in Vedomosti.

The companies agreed to sell their stakes to the family of Demyan Kudryavtsev, who had bought the other 33.3% stake in the newspaper from the Finnish publishing group Sanoma Independent Media earlier this year. The terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Mr. Kudryavstev was formerly the publisher of rival publication Kommersant.

The law has been seen as part of an effort by the Kremlin to exert firmer control over Russian media, a sector that already has few dissenting voices. Since Vladimir Putin came to power 15 years ago, the state has consolidated control over the television sector in partnership with tycoons friendly to the Kremlin, clamping down on the main source of news for most Russians. Vedomosti had been considered a reliably independent voice in Russian media and often printed articles critical of the government.

"We are very proud of the work we have done with Vedomosti and our contribution to independent press in Russia for the past 15 years," Pearson and Dow Jones said in a joint statement. "The quality and integrity of the Vedomosti editorial team is outstanding and both the FT and The Wall Street Journal plan to continue licensing content to Vedomosti to provide high-quality, international news to readers in Russia."

Write to Lukas I. Alpert at lukas.alpert@wsj.com

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 20, 2015 13:15 ET (18:15 GMT)

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