Fairfax Media

Fairfax Media
Company type	Public
Industry	Media
Predecessor	John Fairfax and Sons
Founded	1841
Founder	John Fairfax
Defunct	2018
Fate	Merged with Nine Entertainment Co.
Headquarters	Sydney, Australia
Area served	Australia, New Zealand
Key people	Nick Falloon (Chairman), Greg Hywood (CEO)
Products	Newspapers, magazines, radio stations, digital outlets
Parent	Nine Entertainment Co. (after 2018)

Fairfax Media operated as a media enterprise across Australia and New Zealand, with holdings spanning newspapers, magazines, radio stations, and digital outlets. Established by John Fairfax under the name John Fairfax and Sons, the firm took ownership of The Sydney Morning Herald in 1841. Control remained within the Fairfax family until the closing decades of the 20th century.

Among its notable Australian newspaper assets were The Age, Australian Financial Review, and Canberra Times. The company also maintained controlling interests in the property-focused Domain Group and the Macquarie Radio Network, alongside partnerships in the streaming platform Stan and the digital news site HuffPost Australia.

Leadership included chairman Nick Falloon and CEO Greg Hywood.

On 26 July 2018, Fairfax Media consented to a merger with Nine Entertainment Co., wherein Nine's shareholders acquired a 51% stake in the new entity, while Fairfax's shareholders held 49%. Following this, Fairfax Media was removed from the Australian Securities Exchange listings in December 2018. The company's metropolitan publishing operations were integrated into Nine Publishing, while other divisions, such as community media outlets, were divested after the merger.

History

In 1841, John Fairfax purchased The Sydney Morning Herald, initiating multi-generational family control over the company. Initially known as John Fairfax and Sons, it later transitioned to John Fairfax Holdings. The Fairfax family's direct control ended in December 1990. The organization adopted the name Fairfax Media in 2007.

1950s to 1999

Founded in 1951, The Australian Financial Review became part of Fairfax’s portfolio. Throughout the 1950s, the company ventured into television by launching stations such as ATN and QTQ. The 1960s saw further expansion through acquisitions including The Age, The Newcastle Herald, and Illawarra Mercury. In response to Rupert Murdoch’s 1979 acquisition attempt of competitor The Herald and Weekly Times, Fairfax divested its television interests, including the Seven Network. By 1988, Fairfax sold its magazine collection—featuring titles like Woman's Day, People, Dolly, and Good Housekeeping—to Australian Consolidated Press. Concurrently, it ceased publication of its Sydney afternoon tabloid The Sun, transferring its editorial content and sponsorship of the City to Surf race to a new Sunday tabloid, The Sun-Herald, which replaced the broadsheet Sunday Herald.

In 1987, Warwick Fairfax, then 26 years old, acquired his family's shares by leveraging borrowed funds, assuming ownership and selling some assets to his half-brother John B. Fairfax who established Rural Press. However, on 10 December 1990, the company collapsed under A$1.7 billion debt and entered receivership. After restructuring, it was relisted on the Australian Securities Exchange by 1993. Significant shareholders at that time included Canadian media tycoon Conrad Black’s Hollinger Group holding 25%, and Australian businessman Kerry Packer’s Publishing and Broadcasting Limited with a 15% stake. Due to Australian laws capping foreign ownership of national and metropolitan newspapers at 25%, Black was compelled to divest his shares in 1996 to New Zealand investor Brierley Investments, which encountered similar regulatory limitations.

2000 to 2009

In 2003, Fairfax broadened its media holdings by acquiring Independent Newspapers, New Zealand’s foremost newspaper group, whose principal shareholder was News Corp Australia. By July 2005, Fairfax had purchased the RSVP dating platform for A$38 million. Around August 2005, its classifieds portal Cracker.com.au was drawing more than 500,000 unique monthly visitors. Later that year in December, Fairfax secured Stayz Pty Ltd for A$12.7 million and subsequently divested it in 2013 for $220 million, considerably exceeding its net debt of $154 million. In September 2007, Fairfax acquired the online investment management company InvestSMART from founders Ron Hodge and Nigel Poole for A$12 million; it was later sold in August 2013 for A$7 million.

David Kirk, the former captain of the All Blacks rugby team, was appointed CEO in August 2005, succeeding Fred Hilmer. In March 2006, Fairfax expanded into New Zealand’s online auction market by purchasing Trademe.co.nz for NZ$700 million. That month also saw the acquisition of The Border Mail newspaper for A$162 million. Towards the end of 2006, following amendments to media legislation, speculation about a takeover intensified when News Corp Australia acquired a 7.5% stake in Fairfax to help preserve corporate stability.

On 7 December 2006, Fairfax entered merger negotiations with Rural Press, resulting in a publishing conglomerate valued at approximately A$9 billion and regaining ownership of The Canberra Times. This merger incorporated regional newspapers, radio stations, and agricultural publications under Fairfax’s umbrella. Subsequently, on 12 January 2007, the company rebranded itself as Fairfax Media.

In March 2007, Fairfax launched the Brisbane Times website to establish a presence in the South East Queensland market and introduced BusinessDay.com.au as a business news aggregator. That same year, following Macquarie Media Group's acquisition of Southern Cross Broadcasting (SCB), Fairfax acquired SCB’s radio assets—including prominent stations such as Sydney’s 2UE and Melbourne’s 3AW.

In August 2007, Fairfax announced plans to reduce its workforce by approximately 550 employees across Australia and New Zealand as part of an operational efficiency initiative; New Zealand experienced substantial cuts with around 160 positions eliminated. David Kirk resigned in December 2007 and was succeeded by Brian McCarthy, the former CEO of Rural Press. The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance responded with the "Fair Go, Fairfax" campaign protesting job reductions and their detrimental effects on journalistic standards.

By May 2008, Fairfax’s market capitalization surpassed A$5 billion; however, print readership declined steadily and share prices fell by over 60% by September 2011 and further dropped by 85% by June 2012.

Following the acquisition of Southern Cross Broadcasting on 11 July 2007, Fairfax took control of key radio stations in major Australian cities with intentions to prioritize localized programming over national syndication. The deal also included Satellite Music Australia (SMA), which supplies music channels to retail outlets and pay-TV providers such as Foxtel and Austar. Additionally, Fairfax acquired the MyTalk datacasting channel in November 2007; however, it ceased operations by February 2008.

2010 to 2013

Towards the end of 2011, John B. Fairfax and his family investment vehicle Marinya Media divested their remaining 9.7% stake in Fairfax Media for A$189 million. This followed internal disagreements between John B. Fairfax and Chairman Ron Walker that culminated in Walker’s resignation. The ongoing decline in performance amid evolving news consumption trends was cited as a factor behind Marinya Media's withdrawal. John B. Fairfax had previously stepped down from the board while his son Nick Fairfax was reportedly reconsidering his involvement.

In 2012, mining magnate Gina Rinehart emerged as Fairfax’s largest shareholder by acquiring a 14% interest and sought representation on the board. By June that year, she had increased her stake to 18.67%, pursuing three board seats along with editorial influence. However, due to insurance restrictions on director shareholdings, she was compelled to reduce her holding to 14.99%. Ultimately, Rinehart was denied board membership after declining to accept Fairfax's independence charter and sold her shares in 2015.

On 18 June 2012, Fairfax announced plans to eliminate approximately 1,900 positions while implementing digital paywalls for its flagship metropolitan newspapers The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. It also transitioned these titles to compact (tabloid) formats starting March 2013 and closed printing operations at Chullora and Tullamarine facilities. These strategic moves aimed at countering declining advertising revenues were projected to generate annual savings of A$235 million over three years.

In that same year, Fairfax acquired Netus Pty Ltd—which held an 85% ownership of Allure Media—and subsequently purchased the remaining minority shares to assume full control. Allure Media operates several digital properties including Australian editions of Business Insider, Lifehacker, Gizmodo, and Kotaku.

2014 to 2018

In 2014, Fairfax Media collaborated with Nine Entertainment to introduce the online streaming platform Stan, committing $50 million to this joint enterprise. Later that year, Fairfax merged with Macquarie Radio Network, securing a 55% ownership share. Regulatory restrictions on radio licenses per market led to the divestment of certain stations, including 2CH and Macquarie Regional Radio, while 96FM Perth was sold to Australian Radio Network. The merger was completed in March 2015.

The following year, Fairfax teamed up with The Huffington Post to launch HuffPost Australia. Additionally, production responsibilities for the motoring website Drive.com.au—originally established in 1996—were outsourced to 112 Pty Ltd, the proprietor of The Motor Report. After Nine Entertainment acquired Fairfax, Drive.com.au was integrated with Nine’s CarAdvice platform in 2019.

In March 2016, editorial employees initiated a four-day strike in response to proposed job reductions totaling 120 positions across The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Australian Financial Review. Despite industrial action, all publications continued their regular distribution.

By May 2017, private equity firms Hellman & Friedman and TPG Capital engaged in a competitive bidding process for Fairfax Media, valuing the company near A$2.9 billion. This development raised the prospect of foreign ownership of Fairfax’s principal newspapers.

On 26 July 2018, Fairfax Media and Nine Entertainment reached an agreement to merge, forming Australia’s largest media conglomerate. Shareholders of Nine received a 51% stake in the new entity, while Fairfax shareholders held the remaining 49%. Subsequently, Fairfax Media was removed from the Australian Securities Exchange in December 2018.

Products and divisions

Fairfax's range of assets spanned print and digital media across multiple sectors:

Australian Metro Publishing: included flagship newspapers such as The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Australian Financial Review, along with lifestyle brands including "Goodfood", Drive, "Essential Baby", "Traveller", and a joint venture in Nabo. This segment was predominantly succeeded by Nine Publishing.
Australian Community Media: managed regional, rural, and local newspapers like The Canberra Times, The Newcastle Herald, and Illawarra Mercury, as well as free community publications. It became an independent company following a spin-off in 2019.
Printing: oversaw printing operations within Australia and New Zealand.
Events: coordinated arts, cultural, business, entertainment, and sporting occasions such as Good Food Month and City2Surf and City to Surf (Perth). This division was later sold to the Ironman Group.
Digital ventures: encompassed dating platforms RSVP and Oasis; weather service Weatherzone; digital publisher Allure Media (which owns Gizmodo and PopSugar); plus collaborations with The Huffington Post for HuffPost Australia and Nine Entertainment Co. for Stan.
Radio: held a controlling interest of 54.4% in Macquarie Radio Network, which operates AM stations including 2GB, 3AW, 4BC, and 6PR, alongside music distributor Satellite Music Australia.
New Zealand: through ownership of Stuff, Fairfax controlled national outlet Stuff.co.nz, metropolitan newspapers The Dominion Post and The Press, as well as magazines and event properties.

Fairfax also maintained a 60% stake in Domain Group, a digital real estate enterprise featuring Domain.com.au, which was spun off as a publicly traded company in November 2017.

Newspapers

Fairfax Media's portfolio encompassed metropolitan, rural, regional, and community newspapers alongside financial and consumer magazines. Prominent Australian titles under its umbrella included The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, The Canberra Times, The Sun-Herald, Stock And Land, and The Land.

Among its significant regional publications were the Illawarra Mercury based in Wollongong, The Newcastle Herald from Newcastle, The Border Mail serving Albury-Wodonga, The Daily Advertiser in Wagga Wagga, The Warrnambool Standard in Warrnambool, The Courier of Ballarat, and the Bendigo Advertiser in Bendigo. Fairfax Community Newspapers, a subsidiary, produced 35 community newspapers throughout Victoria and New South Wales.

After acquiring Rural Press, Fairfax broadened its holdings to incorporate titles like The Canberra Times and The Land. On 30 April 2019, Nine divested Fairfax’s community newspapers to former Fairfax executive Antony 'The Cat' Catalano for $115 million.

Magazines

Fairfax's magazine offerings included titles such as The Magazine (Sydney), The Age Magazine (Melbourne), and the weekend supplement Good Weekend, distributed alongside their newspapers. Their business-oriented publications featured the digital-only BRW, as well as AFR Smart Investor, AFR Magazine, AFR Boss, CFO Australia, MIS (magazine), and Asset (Magazine).

Digital

Fairfax Digital, a lucrative online division, published digital versions of most of its newspapers along with standalone news portals like the Brisbane Times serving South East Queensland and WAtoday covering Western Australia. Both The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald provided limited video content on their websites.

Historically, Fairfax websites licensed news videos from Network Ten until Ten introduced its own catch-up service, Tenplay, in 2013. Since 2014, Fairfax has maintained a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Channel Seven for news footage.

Rural Press operated comparable classified advertising platforms and local newspaper websites.

On 21 December 2012, Fairfax acquired full ownership of Allure Media by purchasing Netus Pty Ltd. Allure Media holds Australian licenses for popular sites such as Lifehacker, Gizmodo, and Kotaku.

Syndication

Fairfax Syndication is responsible for the commercial licensing and distribution of written content, photographs, and multimedia to media outlets and commercial clients globally. It provides immediate online licensing services as well as a tailored syndication API that allows clients to access live content from multiple websites for rapid deployment across various platforms. Additionally, this division manages an extensive image library and photo syndication service containing over 16 million images.

New Zealand

Fairfax’s New Zealand branch was rebranded as Stuff Limited in 2018 to reflect its leading website’s branding. In 2020, Stuff was sold to CEO Sinead Boucher through a management buyout for the symbolic price of $1 NZD. Meanwhile, the parent company Nine retained proceeds from the sale of Stuff’s broadband business to Vocus Group and continued to control its Wellington-based printing press.

Following the closure of the New Zealand Press Association in September 2011, Fairfax New Zealand established Fairfax New Zealand News (FNZ) to strengthen its journalistic efforts. In December 2014, Fairfax formed a partnership with Neighbourly, a local social media platform. By 2016, Fairfax Media had divested several niche interest publications including the magazines Boating New Zealand and New Zealand Fishing News.

External links

Fairfax archive collections

Business Archive of Fairfax Media Limited, covering five generations of the Fairfax family’s ownership from 1795 to 2006. Held by the State Library of New South Wales MLMSS 9894