The Borneo Post

Fairfax shareholde­rs approve takeover by Australian TV giant Nine

-

SYDNEY: Shareholde­rs in Australia’s venerable Fairfax newspaper group on Monday overwhelmi­ngly approved the takeover of the company by broadcaste­r Nine Entertainm­ent, creating a new media giant.

The vote sealed the creation of Australia’s first media company with activities across freetoair television, print, video streaming and digital platforms, and promises to unleash further concentrat­ion in a sector already dominated by a handful of giant players.

Fairfax Media said investors voted 81.49 per cent of shares in favour of the takeover, with just 18.5 per cent cast against.

Thecombine­dgroupwill­becalled Nine and will begin operations on December 10 pending final federal court approval, expected on November 27.

Fairfax Media, which has been an Australian news staple for more than 170 years, will cease to exist.

The A$ 4 billion ( US$ 2.9 billion) Nine-Fairfax merger was the first deal under a controvers­ial media ownership law passed last year which removed restrictio­ns that had prevented companies from owning newspapers, radio and free-to- air television stations in the same city.

Major players in the market had long pressed for the change, arguing the rules were outdated and did not account for digital media platforms and new actors like Google and Facebook, which have syphoned off the lion’s share of advertisin­g revenue in the media sector.

The Rupert Murdoch- owned News Corp, the country’s largest newspaper group, has already begun developing cross-platform deals with free-to- air television companies, and many analysts believe it could merge in turn with Seven West, which operates the country’s most popular television network.

Critics of the new media law complain it will further undermine diversity in the Australian news sector.

Like news organisati­ons worldwide, Fairfax has been shedding jobs for years and the takeover by Nine has raised fears of further editorial cutbacks.

Nine has already signalled it will seek to sell off the Fairfax stable of rural and regional newspapers.

But the Australian Competitio­n and Consumer Commission ruled earlier this month that the FairfaxNin­e merger “was not likely to substantia­lly lessen competitio­n in any market”.

The ACCC acknowledg­ed the deal would leave only four big media companies “intensely focusing on Australian news”, but it said the advent of the internet had brought in many online news players to “provide some degree of competitiv­e restraint”. — AFP

 ??  ?? A television cameraman films the logo of Nine Entertainm­ent Co Holdings Ltd on display outside their Sydney headquarte­rs in Australia. — Reuters photo
A television cameraman films the logo of Nine Entertainm­ent Co Holdings Ltd on display outside their Sydney headquarte­rs in Australia. — Reuters photo

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Malaysia