Kerry Packer can finally rest easy in his grave:
Fairfax Media and Nine Entertainment have agreed to merge, creating one $4.2 billion integrated media company with a suit of assets across the sector.
The merger, announced on Thursday morning, will see Nine shareholders own 51.1 per cent of the combined business, while Fairfax shareholders will hold 48.9 per cent of the merged entity.
Nine and Fairfax, publisher of The Australian Financial Review, have entered into a scheme implementation agreement and hope to finish the transaction by the end of the year.
Kerry’s old stomping ground merged with the “rivers of gold” at last. Though these day’s it’s more like rivers of sackings.
This could go either way for Domainfax’s role in the economy. It could inject more realty spruik into TV or it might diffuse the focus on realty in the print business.
Let’s hope it is the latter.
