CEO of Australia's Fairfax Media resigns

SYDNEY, Australia - The chief executive of Fairfax Media, publisher of the Sydney Morning Herald, quit Friday after three years at the helm of a company that has lost advertising dollars to the Internet and is now grappling with an economic downturn.

David Kirk, a former captain of New Zealand's All Blacks rugby team, gave no explanation for stepping down, but his resignation comes amid shrinking advertising revenue and staff cuts that have seen Fairfax shares fall nearly 70 percent this year.

Kirk, said it had been a privilege to lead Fairfax during a challenging time.

"I leave with the strongest pride in the quality and integrity of journalism and our mastheads and media assets, in print, online and on-air, throughout Australia and New Zealand," he said in a statement.

Fairfax owns more than 300 newspapers, 50 Web sites and 15 radio stations. In Australia, it publishes The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian Financial Review, among others. New Zealand mastheads include The Dominion Post and The Press.

Under Kirk's leadership, Fairfax bought Trade Me, a New Zealand auction Web site, for about 700 million New Zealand dollars ($373 million) in 2006 to fend off the loss of advertising revenue to the Internet at the publisher's city mastheads.

There had been speculation about Kirk's position in the current poor economic climate. Shares in Fairfax Media are down 68 percent this year, compared with a 44 percent slide in the overall market.

Analysts at Credit Suisse said last month they expect Fairfax's advertising revenue from metropolitan newspapers to fall 20 percent this year. Other media companies have also watched their shares drop and advertising shrink. News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch, a main Fairfax rival, recently said there would be cuts at his Australian publications.

After Kirk's announcement, Fairfax shares were trading up 0.3 percent at 1.495 Australian dollars ($0.966) but closed down 1.7 percent at AU$1.465 compared with a 1.2 percent fall for the benchmark stock index.

Earlier this year, Kirk initiated a cost-cutting plan that included dropping 550 jobs. One of the first to go was Andrew Jaspan, editor of The Age newspaper. On Thursday, Alan Oakley stepped down as editor of the Sydney Morning Herald.

Fairfax Chairman Ronald Walker praised Kirk as an "outstanding CEO" and said he had helped with operational improvements including cost reductions, circulation growth and a rapid growth in Internet earnings.

"He and his team have led the complete repositioning of the company, from a metropolitan newspaper publishing business to a position in which the company is now clearly the leading media company in Australasia," Walker said in the statement.

He said deputy chief executive Brian McCarthy would act as interim chief until the board meets next week.

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