The Financial Times is reopening its Los Angeles bureau after nearly a decade and has appointed veteran correspondent Christopher Grimes as the new bureau chief in the US entertainment capital. The reopening is the latest move by the FT to expand in the US and follows the reopening of the global news organisation’s Houston bureau.

The decision to reopen the LA bureau is part of the FT’s strategic growth plan in the US, which is centred on covering the big, global sectors where American companies are dominant players — finance, technology, energy and media and entertainment. In his new role, Grimes will cover entertainment giants such as Disney, but also the burgeoning ecosystem of online influencers and TikTok stars in Southern California who are reshaping the industry.

Grimes moves to LA from Tokyo where he spent four years on secondment as a top editor at Nikkei Asia, the English-language publication of the FT’s media partner and owner. Before that, Grimes spent nearly two decades as a reporter and editor in the FT’s two primary newsrooms, New York and London, where he held senior editorial roles and reported on the US media industry.

“Reopening our Los Angeles bureau is part of our ongoing effort to better serve the ‘Global Americans’ who subscribe to the FT in the US,” said Peter Spiegel, the US managing editor. “There are few American industries more global than media and entertainment, and appointing Chris, one of the FT’s most respected journalists and most engaging writers, is a sign of how seriously we’re taking the challenge.”

The reopening in LA gives the FT six bureaus in the US, the most of any country in its network — including the UK, its home base. In addition to new bureaus in LA and Houston, the FT has correspondents in Washington, San Francisco and Chicago as well as its US headquarters in New York.

Grimes will join a media and entertainment team that includes Alex Barker, the FT’s London-based global media editor, and Anna Nicolaou, the US media correspondent in New York, giving the news organisation an unrivalled transatlantic lineup that will provide readers around the world with the FT’s uniquely global perspective on one of the world’s most influential industries.

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For further information please contact: Rhonda Taylor | rhonda.taylor@ft.com

About the Financial Times

The Financial Times is one of the world’s leading business news organisations, recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. The FT has a record paying readership of more than one million, three-quarters of which are digital subscriptions. It is part of Nikkei Inc., which provides a broad range of information, news and services for the global business community.