Despite these risks, The Financial Times’s successful auction was fueled by the combination of its brand and its success in its digital business, Mr. Lee, of Evercore, said. In the last decade, The Financial Times’s digital subscribers have increased to about 535,000 from 76,000; a majority of its revenue of about £300 million comes from subscribers, not advertisers.

John Ridding, chief executive of The Financial Times, said in an interview that the newspaper’s gamble in charging a high price for premium content, both in print and online, had paid off. And neither he nor his colleagues wanted The Financial Times to become some billionaire’s toy — it had to continue to be a relevant media property. “Some people thought that this was a trophy buy,” he said. “I think the answer to that is firmly no.”

In the end, Nikkei wanted The Financial Times more than Axel did, offering about £90 million more, according to people briefed on the deal. “They would have been prepared to go even higher,” Lionel Barber, editor of The Financial Times, said in an interview.

Nikkei’s intention of keeping The Financial Times editorially independent and in London was an important consideration for the Pearson executives. “In terms of our editorial output, we will be distinct and distinctly pink,” Mr. Barber said, referring to the paper’s newsprint color. Editorial independence remains a bone of contention, and nearly 250 Financial Times journalists have signed a petition demanding that Nikkei formalize its pledge on the matter.

There will be some joint reporting initiatives — The Financial Times is planning a special section called Japan and the World and will provide content for Nikkei’s TV operations. There will also be joint conferences and swaps of small groups of journalists. Other than that, Nikkei will, at least for now, allow The Financial Times to keep its profits and reinvest them in the business.

Still, there will be considerable pressure on Financial Times management to make the deal pay off financially for Nikkei. That was among the points Mr. Barber made during a contentious staff meeting on Oct. 29. After eight hours “of intimate contact,” Mr. Barber said, with Mr. Kita in Tokyo to discuss the newspaper’s business plan and several “still secret” editorial initiatives, he had a clear message: “New owners, new partners but the same FT.” It’s this “editorial independence, ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “that underwrites the amazing price that Nikkei paid for The FT: 44 times earnings. That is a very handsome and generous price.”

Mr. Barber said he was deeply involved with the sale process. “This could have gone really badly, really badly,” he said at the staff meeting. “I mean I’ve got nothing against the Qataris. It’s hot and it shouldn’t be a place where you play football, especially the World Cup. I don’t like Russian owners of the media. And I’m not too keen on trade buyers in America who would have just swallowed up the FT. As for the Germans, I speak German fluently, I did at university but frankly” — and here he turned to Mr. Ridding — “he’s too polite to say this but they would have come in and they would have torn up our business model.”