“We have been competing with them for some time, even on their home turf. We aren’t complacent, but we aren’t particularly worried, either,” says Ben Hughes, global commercial director at the Financial Times.

The FT has several things working in its favor, and one is that the paper is much stronger these days. After working its way out of the last recession rather painfully, cutting costs sharply to return to profit, it's a better paper, and better prepared to weather this recession and Murdoch as well.

“In terms of quality, the FT is better than it was,” says Usman Ghazi, media analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort. “Compared to the last downturn, it will fare better.”

Under new editor Lionel Barber and chief executive John Ridding, the FT has refined its strategy, reshuffling its properties. It has sold off stakes it had in country-specific publications in France and Germany as part of its aim to be a unified, global brand that reaches C-level executives through its five regional editions.

"Our strategy is a very global one," says the FT's Hughes. "We believe that we are a very niche newspaper and that we cover business and finance better than most.”

The FT's circulation, nearly 450,000, rose in each of the 10 months through February, and a lot of the growth has come from outside its home market. That better insulates the paper from the circulation declines it experienced during the last recession, when layoffs in London's financial sector led to a notable drop in newsstand sales.

Also working in the FT's favor is that five months into owning The Wall Street Journal, Murdoch is totally absorbed in making over the U.S. edition as a direct competitor to The New York Times.

That's a daunting challenge, and it will take years. During that time, the Journal's European edition, along with the Asian edition, will likely get far less attention. Together they represent less than a tenth--162,000-- of the Journal's total print circulation of 1.7 million.

During that time, the FT will be able to fortify its position as a global niche publication.

But perhaps the biggest factor in the FT’s favor is the newspaper Murdoch envisions the Journal becoming will by all accounts be a far more general paper, as it would have to be to compete with the Times.

That process is already underway.

"That plays to the advantage of the FT,” says Monck, and on several levels. The FT will become that much more attractive to readers who once turned to the Journal for business news. As it is, over recent years the Journal has shifted its focus away from hard business coverage to favor softer, lifestyle features.

Also the Journal will likely have an even stronger U.S. focus competing with the Times, again to the benefit of the FT, with its emphasis on the global business story.

Monck suggests too that in his remaking of the Journal Murdoch will give it a political slant, as he has in past makeovers of other papers he's taken over.

That will certainly work in the favor of the FT. While the paper is conservative, it remains nonpartisan, which preserves its credibility with readers. Says Monck: "The FT supports business and markets, not politics."

A Journal with a political axe or two to grind would be a big turnoff for business readers.

For its part, the Journal is not talking about its strategy in Europe, but it has taken one step that can be read in any of a dozen ways. It has begun publishing its U.S. edition in London, selling it along side its European edition. It's printing 3,500 copies daily.

What does it mean?

“It is complementary,” says a Journal spokesperson. “You get the news five hours ahead of New York. That’s useful for some people. They offer different things.”

Folks at the FT have taken note. “It is an interesting move,” says Hughes. “I just wonder what statement they are making about the European edition if they are distributing copies of the U.S. edition in a European market.”