Pearson Buys Into MarketWatch.com

British media giant Pearson agreed to buy a 34.4% stake in MarketWatch.com Inc. from Data Broadcasting Corp. for $26.9 million. Pearson, whose holdings include the Financial Times newspaper and Penguin books, owns 60% of Data Broadcasting, a provider of financial market data. San Francisco-based MarketWatch.com operates the CBS MarketWatch financial-news Web site. Data Broadcasting said it will be profitable before taxes now that it no longer has to shoulder a share of MarketWatch.com’s losses. The sale, which will result in a one-time charge of about $90 million, also will help the Bedford, Mass.-based company to focus on its financial-information business. Data Broadcasting and CBS Corp. each bought about 1.14 million shares of MarketWatch.com for about $37.83 a share in May. Data Broadcasting said it will distribute all proceeds as a dividend, payable Jan. 16 to shareholders of record on Jan. 8. Shares of MarketWatch, which have fallen 92% this year, climbed 78 cents to close at $3 on the news. Data Broadcasting closed up 31 cents at $3.38. Its shares have fallen 70% from a 52-week high of $11.38 on Feb. 10. Both trade on Nasdaq.