Fairfax Media Limited
Fairfax
Media Limited, is one of Australia's largest diversified
media companies. The group's operations include
newspapers, magazines, radios and digital media
operating in Australia and New Zealand. Fairfax
Media was founded by the Fairfax family as John
Fairfax Holdings but they lost control of the
company on December 11, 1990. The group's Chairman
is Ron Walker and the Chief Executive Officer
is David Kirk. As of May 2008 Fairfax Media had
a market capitalisation of over $5 billion.
History
In
April 2003, Fairfax acquired New Zealand's Independent
Newspapers Limited (INL), owners of many of New
Zealand's highest-profile newspapers.
In
February 2004, a proposal was put to the board
of Telstra to buy John Fairfax Holdings. This
proposal was not supported by the board. This
proposal was known as "Project Patrick",
and if successful would have seen the Australian
government become the majority owner of one of
Australia's largest sources of news.
In
July 2005, Fairfax acquired the RSVP dating site
for A$38M.
In
August 2005, Fairfax's general classifieds site
created in March 2004, Cracker.com.au consistently
exceeded 500,000 Unique Visitors a month.
In
December 2005, Fairfax acquired Stayz.com.au for
A$12M.
In
August 2005, Fairfax ended its 16 month search
for a new Chief Executive Officer with David Kirk,
a former Rugby Union World Cup winning captain
of the New Zealand All Blacks being appointed
to replace departing CEO Fred Hilmer. David Kirk
gets the nod ahead of Fairfax COO Brian Evans
(former head of Fairfax New Zealand) and Doug
Flynn, who took the top job at UK Pest control
company Rentokil after negotiations with Fairfax
broke off.
In
March 2006, Fairfax acquired New Zealand auction
website Trademe.co.nz for NZ$700M.
On
4th March 2006, it was announced that Fairfax
would purchase The Border Mail newspaper in Albury-Wodonga
for $162 million.
In
October 2006 speculation began that the company
would be bought out and split up began to grow
after the passage of changes to Australian media
laws. Rival media company News Corporation purchased
a 7.5% stake in the company at this time, with
the stated aim of keeping Fairfax in one piece.
On
7th December 2006, John Fairfax Holdings and Rural
Press announced the beginning of their merger
proceedings. If this merger is successful, it
will form a publishing company worth AU$9 billion
dollars. A merger would mean Fairfax regaining
control of The Canberra Times (which it owned
in the 1980s), and through John B. Fairfax of
Rural Press, would see the return of the Fairfax
family to the company board. The company would
also gain a number of other regional newspapers,
radio stations and websites; plus agricultural
publications in various countries.
On
12th January 2007, John Fairfax Holdings changed
its name to Fairfax Media.
On
7th March 2007, Fairfax Media announced a new
website for Brisbane, called the Brisbane Times.
The website will initially employ 14 journalists
and is an attempt by Fairfax to break into the
South East Queensland market.
On
20th March 2007 Fairfax Media launched a new business
website. BusinessDay.com.au aggregates feeds from
the other news vehicles in the Fairfax stable
as well as "from the world's most respected
news sources". It features breaking news
updated "every 15 minutes".
In
2007 Fairfax Media bought the radio assets of
Southern Cross Broadcasting. Macquarie Media Group
purchased Souther Cross for AU$1.35 billion and
onsold these assets to the Fairfax Group.
Properties
Australian newspapers
Fairfax
publishes the second most circulated daily papers
in both Sydney and Melbourne, The Sydney Morning
Herald and The Age respectively. It also publishes
a daily business tabloid, The Australian Financial
Review.
Fairfax
also owns papers in major regional centres, including
the Illawarra Mercury (Wollongong), the The Newcastle
Herald (Newcastle), The Border Mail (Albury-Wodonga)
and The Warrnambool Standard (Warrnambool). In
addition, its subsidiary Fairfax Community Newspapers
publishes 35 community newspapers serving suburban
New South Wales and Victoria.
As
a result of its Rural Press acquisition, Fairfax
will take control of many newspapers including
The Canberra Times and The Land.
Australian
magazines
Fairfax
publishes a number of magazines, such as the(sydney)magazine,
theage(melbourne)magazine and Good Weekend, which
are distributed with their newspapers. In addition,
the company publishes business-centred magazines
including BRW, AFR Smart Investor, AFR Magazine,
AFR Boss, CFO Australia, MIS and Asset.
Australian digital
Fairfax
owns a profitable Australian online subsidiary,
Fairfax Digital which was once known as the F2
Network. The company's websites include the subject
focused:
* News: Newsbreak
* Employment: My Career
* Free Classifieds and Forums: Cracker.com.au
* Australian Holiday Accommodation: Stayz.com.au
* Cars: Drive
* Real Estate: Domain
* Personals: RSVP
* Finance: Trading Room
* Business News Business Day
* Superannuation and Managed Funds: InvestSmart
* Personal Investment: Money Manager
* Australian Rules Football: Realfooty
* Rugby Union: Rugbyheaven
* Rugby League: League HQ
* Australian Towns: Walkabout
* MyTalk: Fairfax Radio Network
Fairfax
also publishes web editions of most of its newspaper
titles, as well as South-East Queensland digital-only
news site Brisbane Times. Both The Age and SMH
produce a limited amount of video content, which
is only available online.
Rural
Press owns a range of similar classifieds and
local newspaper websites. It is expected that
these will join Fairfax Digital, the classifieds
ones merging with the appropriate Fairfax sites.
Australian
radio
On
2007-11-07, Fairfax Media acquired the former
radio assets of Southern Cross Broadcasting (on-sold
from Macquarie Media Group's purchase of SCB):
2UE Sydney, 3AW and Magic 1278 Melbourne, 4BC
and 4BH Brisbane, and 6PR and 96fm Perth. Graham
Mott will continue in his role as general manager
of the broadcast radio group under Fairfax. Mott
indicated at the time of the acquisition that
national syndication of programming (such as that
of the since-retired John Laws) would largely
be replaced on the network with more localised
syndication at a state level.
Fairfax
also acquired Satellite Music Australia (SMA)
as part of the SCB deal, who provide music channels
to retailers, as well as Foxtel and Austar (where
it is branded AIR).
Fairfax
Media also owns a number of stations in rural
South Australia and Queensland, as part of its
previous acquisition of Rural Press.
MyTalk Datacasting Channel on November 5, 2007,
was officially purchased from Southern Cross Broadcasting.
Following this on February 25, 2008, MyTalk ceased
broadcasting.
New Zealand
New Zealand newspapers
In
New Zealand, its subsidiary Fairfax New Zealand
Limited publishes a stable of papers formerly
owned by Independent Newspapers Limited (INL),
including The Dominion Post in Wellington, The
Christchurch Press in Christchurch and The Sunday
Star-Times in Auckland. Fairfax also own over
60 community newspapers.
New
Zealand magazines
* AgTrader
* Central Districts Field Days
* Cuisine
* The Dairyman
* Horticulture News
* The Lifestyle Farmer
* New Zealand Grapegrower
* Straight Furrow
New
Zealand digital
In
NZ, Fairfax's websites form the stuff portal.
Sites include:
* News: stuff
* Employment: jobstuff
* Property: propertystuff
* Personals: personalstuff
* Shopping: stuff on sale
Fairfax
also owns the Cuisine website as part of its ownership
of the magazine of the same name. (Credit:
Wikipedia).
Media
Release
25th
July 2008
FAIRFAX
MEDIA ADDS PRESTIGE RETAIL CENTRE TITLES TO MAGAZINE
DIVISION
Fairfax
Media has today announced a new stream of business
for the magazine division – custom publishing.
Three
titles for high-end retail centres will be produced
by Fairfax Magazines, including The Chase (Chatswood
Chase, NSW), Fashion Capital (Chadstone, VIC),
and QP (QueensPlaza, Brisbane, QLD). These publications
will join the current flagship titles which include
Good Weekend, Sunday Life, the(sydney)magazine,
theage(melbourne)magazine, Television and Travel
+ Leisure.
All
three are existing publishing contracts which
Fairfax Magazines has assumed responsibility for,
with each title scheduled to undergo a complete
transformation in terms of design and content
before being re-launched in September.
“This
is an exciting new direction for our growing magazines
business, and one that has huge potential,”
commented Lisa Hudson, Chief Executive and Publisher,
Fairfax Magazines.
“Each
title will feature strong, sophisticated fashion,
but also great food, beauty, home interiors, and
features. Each will have its own local focus and
compelling reading, to ensure they will be kept
and enjoyed by readers hungry for good lifestyle
content,” continued Hudson.
Hudson
says that new editorial and advertising teams
will be employed to manage the titles, which will
have a combined circulation of over 210,000 and
will be distributed via targeted letter-box drop
as well as on-site at the centres.
“These
magazines are an important communications tool
for the centres and their customers,” said
Sev Celik, National Advertising Director, Fairfax
Magazines. “We have increased the frequency
of the titles to enable our advertisers to communicate
with these customers more regularly and during
key retail periods in the year.”
“Our
advertising offering to both local and national
clients will be extended beyond on-page opportunities
to include in-store, events, promotions, online,
experiential, competitions, and sponsorship,”
added Mimi Cullen, Group Advertising Manager,
Fairfax Magazines.
The
Chase and Fashion Capital, which were previously
published bi-annually and three times per year
respectively, will both be issued quarterly by
Fairfax. QP will continue to be published bi-annually.
“We
look forward to working with our partners to create
magazines that are not only beautiful, but offer
real content that resonates with the sophisticated
audience who shops at these centres,” said
Hudson.
“After
all, these shoppers are our readers, and we know
how to communicate with them.”
—ENDS—
Attention News Editors and Producers
Lisa Hudson is available for interview. A photograph
of Lisa is available upon request.
About
Fairfax Magazines
Fairfax Magazines, a division of Fairfax Media,
is Australia’s largest publisher of lifestyle
titles for the AB market covering fashion, motoring,
food, wine and travel. Flagship titles include
Good Weekend, the(sydney)magazine, theage(melbourne)magazine,
Sunday Life, Travel + Leisure Australia and Television.
Newspaper inserted magazines represent one of
the fastest growth areas in the Australian magazine
publishing market. Fairfax magazines are distributed
in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Sun-Herald
and The Sunday Age. Travel + Leisure Australia
is available by subscription and from selected
newsagents.
Websites
Fairfax
Digital
The
Sydney Morning Herald
The
Age
The
Sun-Herald
Australian
Financial Review
MyCareer
Drive
RSVP
Profiles
SMH.com.au
Southern
Cross Broadcasting
RSVP
Peter
Fitzsimmons
Sam
And The City
Website
Review
The
Sydney Morning Herald Online
Media
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