The future of publishing

The old John Fairfax Holdings from 5 years ago today contributes only 35% of our total earnings.Our earnings from our online businesses are 15% of the total – that’s just under$115 million – and growing rapidly.

This is a quote from a speech by Fairfax CEO, David Kirk, delivered at the Sydney Institute on Tuesday evening. The speech makes the dirction of the company clear:

Our strategy is to build a digital media company that creates, distributes and monetises content across many different media platforms: newspapers, magazines, the internet, mobile phones and wherever else it makes sense for us to be.

A simple way we think of it is that we are in the process of transforming Fairfax Media into a multi-media news and information company.

Fairfax Media is going about this transformation is a considered yet entrepreneurial way. Their forays into Brisbane and Perth and in pursuit of the Gen Y market have attracted interest from publisher watchers around the world. At some point in the future newsagents are bound to say why weren’t we told? Fairfax is making no secret of the importance of the online division of its business to its future.

Newsagents need to notice these moves and take them into consideration when making business plans of their own. While newspapers will be around for many years to come, our reliance on them will change. The key is for newsagents is for us to navigate through this on our terms rather than as a reaction to a surprise.