Nine/Fairfax Merger superthread

End of an era.

2 Likes

One door closes fuarfax media, another door opens a larger Nine Entertainment

So it marked the end of Fairfax’s 31-year downward spiral which began when “young” Warwick Fairfax tried to privatise his family company in 1987. Had he not proceeded it could be another story.

1 Like

Really? How have the past 31 years been a downward spiral?

Methinks you’ve been reading too many News Corp opinion pieces.

I think it’s fair to say Fairfax never recovered from Warwick Fairfax’s decision to take the company private in 1987.

A multi platform media company was dismantled and sold off and by the early 90s the company and its constituent parts were no longer in family hands.

Off course there were highs and lows over the next three decades and the Fairfax family returned to the share register in the form of John B Fairfax.

While “spiral” is probably not entirely accurate, what is true is that Fairfax never managed to fully recover from events set in train in 1987.

4 Likes

I think Fairfax had far more lows (multiple staff sackings, going into administration, takeover by Conrad Black, failed relaunch of The Sun-Herald in 2016) then highs (the debut of The Sunday Age in 1990 and the listing of Domain).

1 Like

Hasn’t that happened across the board in newspapers? Isn’t that the same as what has happened in publishing across the board?

How has the Sun-Herald failed?

Not to Mention ownership of HSV7 back in 1987 which Melburnians disliked the way their News was Treated.

In that relaunch, The Sun-Herald just showed the headlines of 2-3 articles on the front page without a summary, pointing readers to inside the paper. But readers did not like it and the paper went back to the old format a few weeks later.

Practically every news website has done this. They either rollback or tweak the changes. Hardly a noteworthy “failure” for the title or the brand.

I think you’re over exaggerating.

What about The Sun-Herald moving the sports section to a liftout inside the paper (copying The Sunday Telegraph), only to have it returning to the back of the paper a few weeks later?

These are fairly superficial changes that I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say they are indicitive of a systematic failure at Fairfax.

6 Likes

Huh? It’s still a liftout

Yeah, hasn’t it always been a lift-out?

The Sun-Herald sports section was at the back of the paper for a while, meaning Danny Weidler had his rugby league gossip column prominently on the inside back page. I’m fairly sure the sport was at the back around the time Weidler got his job at Nine. Before then he was full-time at the Herald and I used to read his column … and near every word in the paper.

1 Like

A number of media outlets reporting 144 roles are to be made redundant as a result of the merger.

2 Likes
1 Like

Not a Merry Xmas for ~100 people and their families. In a sense these may just be the latest in ongoing sets of redundancies at Fairfax Media (and competitors), but it’s an awful time of year for this to happen.

4 Likes

10 should start picking up. Easiest way to snap up a pool of desperately needed people.

3 Likes

I agree. Although it has to be said we don’t know yet how many of the 100 or so people being let go are journalists.

Once the dust settles on the merger, I’d probably expect to see some Nine/Fairfax/Macquarie journalists doing things across TV, radio, print and online rather than focusing on only one medium as per tradition.

1 Like