TIMELINE-History of the Financial Times

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LONDON, July 23 (Reuters) - Japanese media group Nikkei agreed on Thursday to buy the Financial Times from Britain's Pearson (Xetra: 858266 - news) in a $1.3 billion deal that brings together two of the leading financial news operations from Europe and Asia.

1884 - The Financial News is established by London-born journalist and entrepreneur Harry Marks on his return from the United States

1888 - The Financial Times is launched as the friends of the "Honest Financier and the Respectable Broker", with Leopold Graham as editor and its offices established on Telegraph Street

1891 - FT newspaper sales soar 73 percent from 1890

1893 - The newspaper is first printed on pink paper

1910 - FT introduces a magazine page on Fridays

1919 - Berry Bros, owners of the Sunday Times and, later, the Daily Telegraph, take control of the FT

1935 - A 30-share index is introduced in the FT

1945 - Brendan Bracken, owner of the Financial News, buys the FT and merges the two

1953 - "Industry", "Commerce" and "Public Affairs" are introduced to the paper's masthead, reflecting its increased scope of coverage

1957 - The FT is purchased by Pearson, originally a Yorkshire building and engineering company that later branched out into banking, manufacturing, local newspapers and book publishing

1959 - FT circulation tops 100,000

1979 - A European edition starts printing in Frankfurt and circulation reaches 200,000 copies a day

1988 - FT acquires French titles Les Echos and L'Expansion 1989 - FT moves into current Thames-side offices at Southwark Bridge 1995 - FT.com website is launched 2000 - Launch of German-language FT Deutschland, a venture with Gruener + Jahr 2001 - Circulation hits 500,000 copies a day 2003 - Asia edition launched in print and online 2012 - Digital subscriptions exceed global print circulation

2013 - Launch of fastFT, providing market-moving news and views 2015 - Pearson, now the largest education company and the largest book publisher in the world, agrees to sell FT Group to Nikkei Inc. of Japan

Source - FT website (Compiled by London companies desk)