Shareholders doubt Nine-Fairfax deal with Gordon, Murdoch lurking
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Two key Fairfax Media shareholders have voiced opposition to its planned merger with Nine Entertainment, with one key backer of both companies tipping Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp to enter the fray and disrupt the deal.
It comes amid speculation Nine’s biggest shareholder, Bermuda-based billionaire Bruce Gordon, had lifted his interest in the free-to-air broadcaster in an attempt to ensure he maintains influence if the merger goes through.
Fairfax Media chief executive Greg Hywood and Nine boss Hugh Marks announced plans for a merger on Thursday.
Photo: Louie Douvis
“I don’t think all the cards are on the table yet,” Martin Currie Australia chief investment officer Reece Birtles, who controls a 6 per cent stake in Fairfax, and also holds shares in Nine, told the Herald.
Nine last week struck a deal to merge with Fairfax Media, publisher of this website, in a deal that would unite the free-to-air network with Fairfax’s newspapers such as The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, its interests in radio stations such as 2GB and 3AW, 60 per cent of real estate portal Domain and streaming platform Stan.
“Strategically it makes sense,” Mr Birtles said. “For the advertising platform that it creates, in terms of the scale, with Domain being able to advertise on TV and digital.
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