Pearson yesterday raised £250m to accelerate its investment in its internet-based businesses, including its relaunched flagship ft.com.
The media group, which publishes the Financial Times and the Economist, is planning a swath of new web services including an online education network and a push into the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking markets.
Pearson's finance director, John Makinson, said the cash would fund investments for up to two years focusing on the relaunch of ft.com, the company's online version of the FT, and other financial information sites during 2000.
Ft.com will relaunch in the next few weeks and has been showing compound growth of 20% a month in site visits. In January, the website had some 1.2m unique users compared to 200,000 a year ago.
"The message is that we are stepping up our rate of investment because it is beginning to pay off. We are emboldened particularly by the success of ft.com," Mr Makinson said.
Pearson was not about to ape its arch rival, the Wall Street Journal, by introducing online subscription fees. "The secret is to build and generate traffic to support substantial advertising and e-commerce revenues," he said.
"The $64,000 question is making money, but if you believe the internet will change the way people access financial information and that the FT brand has resonance, then we should be successful."
The funds were raised by placing 11.5m shares at £22 each. Pearson shares were marked down 62p at £22.60 in response to the new issue but analysts backed the strategy, describing the fall as only a short term reaction.
Marjorie Scardino, Pearson's chief executive, said: "Content and brands count more than ever in this world.
"It's not whether we are in old or new media, or online or offline that matters; it's how we use our content across all channels that will really count."
Pearson, which is one of the leading educational publishers in the world, hopes to exploit its market position via the launch of a network of educational websites linking students, parents and teachers.
Mr Makinson said Pearson was seeking a distribution partner to invest in the business and had already begun talks.
