Stephen Smith, a Canadian financier and billionaire, has agreed to acquire a 26.9% stake in The Economist from Lynn Forester de Rothschild, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and the Financial Times.
The transaction marks the first ownership change at the London-based weekly in more than a decade, according to Forbes. Smith's holding company is the buyer in the deal.
The Economist Group's ownership has historically been distributed among a range of institutional and family shareholders, with no single party holding a controlling interest. The Rothschild family has been among its most prominent long-standing investors.
Further details on the purchase price and any governance implications were not available from the sources at time of publication.
