Warwick Fairfax
Encyclopedia
Warwick Fairfax is an Australian businessman who had tried unsuccessfully to privatise his family's media company Fairfax Media
in 1987. He successfully took over the company but on 10 December 1990 the company collapsed and a receiver was appointed. The controversial method of financing and purchasing holdings of the established company from family members and the consequential problems arising in the media group in later years are still cited today in Australian media history.
Former Australian opposition leader and former investment banker Malcolm Turnbull
first came to prominence by representing the interests of a number of US holders of bonds issued by Fairfax at this time. at this time, Fairfax was in competition with competitors Alan Bond
, Kerry Packer
and Rupert Murdoch
for increased ownership of print titles.
Fairfax is perhaps best known for its flagship titles The Age
and The Sydney Morning Herald
Fairfax's activities in media ownership coincided with a time in Australian business when many media businesses were undergoing takeovers and mergers, some to certain degrees of success and legality. Principal figures such as Alan Bond
, Christopher Skase
, Kerry Stokes
, Robert Holmes à Court
and to a certain extent, Canada's Conrad Black
and Israel Asper bought and sold media properties frequently within Australia during the 1980's. However, these figures were more limited in wealth and success than the largest of Australia's media proprietors, Kerry Packer
and Rupert Murdoch
, who had since moved to the UK and later the US to build print media and satellite television operations.
Even with Fairfax's enormous weight and influence in the newspaper market across the country, cross media ownership rules limited its operations in electronic media, a different situation to Packer whose print media operations were limited mostly to magazines.
Fairfax Media
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 and Sons, later to become John...
in 1987. He successfully took over the company but on 10 December 1990 the company collapsed and a receiver was appointed. The controversial method of financing and purchasing holdings of the established company from family members and the consequential problems arising in the media group in later years are still cited today in Australian media history.
Former Australian opposition leader and former investment banker Malcolm Turnbull
Malcolm Turnbull
Malcolm Bligh Turnbull is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the Australian House of Representatives since 2004, and was Leader of the Opposition and parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party from 16 September 2008 to 1 December 2009.Turnbull has represented the Division...
first came to prominence by representing the interests of a number of US holders of bonds issued by Fairfax at this time. at this time, Fairfax was in competition with competitors Alan Bond
Alan Bond (businessman)
Alan Bond is an Australian businessman noted for his criminal convictions and high-profile business dealings, including what was at the time the biggest corporate collapse in Australian history. Bond was born in the Hammersmith district of London, England, and emigrated to Australia with his...
, Kerry Packer
Kerry Packer
Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer, AC was an Australian media tycoon. The son of Sir Frank Packer and Gretel Bullmore, the Packer family company owned controlling interest in both the Nine television network and leading Australian publishing company Australian Consolidated Press, which were later...
and Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
for increased ownership of print titles.
Fairfax is perhaps best known for its flagship titles The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
and The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...
Fairfax's activities in media ownership coincided with a time in Australian business when many media businesses were undergoing takeovers and mergers, some to certain degrees of success and legality. Principal figures such as Alan Bond
Alan Bond (businessman)
Alan Bond is an Australian businessman noted for his criminal convictions and high-profile business dealings, including what was at the time the biggest corporate collapse in Australian history. Bond was born in the Hammersmith district of London, England, and emigrated to Australia with his...
, Christopher Skase
Christopher Skase
Christopher Charles Skase was an Australian businessman who later became one of his country's most wanted fugitives, after his business empire crashed spectacularly and he fled to Majorca in Spain.-Early life:...
, Kerry Stokes
Kerry Stokes
Kerry Matthew Stokes AC is an Australian businessman. He holds business interests in a diverse range of industries including electronic and print media, property, mining, and construction equipment. He is most widely known as the chairman of the Seven Network, one of the largest broadcasting...
, Robert Holmes à Court
Robert Holmes à Court
Michael Robert Hamilton Holmes à Court was an entrepreneur who became Australia's first businessman worth over a billion dollars before dying suddenly of a heart attack in 1990.Holmes à Court was one of the world's most feared corporate raiders through the 1980s, having built his empire...
and to a certain extent, Canada's Conrad Black
Conrad Black
Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour, OC, KCSG, PC is a Canadian-born member of the British House of Lords, and a historian, columnist and publisher, who was for a time the third largest newspaper magnate in the world. Lord Black controlled Hollinger International, Inc...
and Israel Asper bought and sold media properties frequently within Australia during the 1980's. However, these figures were more limited in wealth and success than the largest of Australia's media proprietors, Kerry Packer
Kerry Packer
Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer, AC was an Australian media tycoon. The son of Sir Frank Packer and Gretel Bullmore, the Packer family company owned controlling interest in both the Nine television network and leading Australian publishing company Australian Consolidated Press, which were later...
and Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
, who had since moved to the UK and later the US to build print media and satellite television operations.
Even with Fairfax's enormous weight and influence in the newspaper market across the country, cross media ownership rules limited its operations in electronic media, a different situation to Packer whose print media operations were limited mostly to magazines.