The company also owned several regional and national Australian newspapers, including The Age, Australian Financial Review and Canberra Times, majority stakes in property business Domain Group and the Macquarie Radio Network, and joint ventures in streaming service Stan and online publisher HuffPost Australia.

In 1988, Fairfax sold its magazines (including Woman's Day, People, Dolly, and Good Housekeeping) to Australian Consolidated Press, and discontinued its Sydney afternoon tabloid The Sun, transferring some of its content and the sponsorship of the City to Surf to its new Sunday tabloid The Sun-Herald which also replaced the broadsheet Sunday Herald.

[citation needed] In 1987, Warwick Fairfax, then aged 26, bought out his family's holdings in the company using borrowed debts.

He successfully took ownership of the company, selling some properties to his half-brother John B. Fairfax, who formed Rural Press.

[4] By 1993, the company was re-listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and the two biggest shareholders of John Fairfax Holdings were the Canadian newspaper magnate Conrad Black and his Hollinger Group with 25%, and the Australian media mogul, Kerry Packer and his publicly listed company, Publishing and Broadcasting Limited with 15%.

Due to Australian government concerns over media consolidation that limited any single foreign shareholder holding more than 25% interest in national and metropolitan newspapers,[7] after intense lobbying for the right to increase his stake, Black conceded defeat in 1996,[8][9][10] selling his holding to the New Zealand corporate raider Brierley Investments, that was ultimately subject to the same restrictions.

[11] In August 2005, Fairfax's general classifieds site created in March 2004, Cracker.com.au consistently exceeded 500,000 unique visitors a month.

[13] In September 2007, Fairfax acquired online funds management business, InvestSMART, from founders Ron Hodge and Nigel Poole for A$12M.

[17][18] In August 2005, Fairfax ended its 16-month search for a new chief executive officer with David Kirk, a former Rugby Union World Cup winning captain of the New Zealand All Blacks being appointed to replace departing CEO Fred Hilmer.

[citation needed] On 4 March 2006, it was announced that Fairfax would purchase The Border Mail newspaper in Albury-Wodonga for A$162 million.

In October 2006, speculation began to grow that the company would be bought out and split up after the passage of changes to Australian media laws.

[citation needed] On 7 December 2006, John Fairfax Holdings and Rural Press announced the beginning of their merger proceedings.

[21] On 26 August 2007, Kirk and Deputy CEO Brian McCarthy announced that 550 staff would be cut as part of a "business improvement" programme.

The staff reductions would take place in both Australia and New Zealand, with the latter country bearing the brunt of the cuts, with 160 full-time employees losing their jobs.

[27][28][29][30] In 2012, mining billionaire Gina Rinehart became Fairfax's biggest shareholder, purchasing a 14 percent stake in the company.

[31] By June 2012, Rinehart had increased her stake in Fairfax Media to 18.67 percent, and was believed to seek three board seats and involvement in editorial decisions.

But provisions in Fairfax Media's insurance policy denied cover for directors owning more than 15%, so Rinehart had to sell down to 14.99%.

It also announced it was shifting to "compact" or tabloid-sized editions of the broadsheet newspapers from March 2013, and that its two printing facilities at Chullora and Tullamarine would close.

Allure Media own a range of websites, including the Australian licenses for Business Insider, Lifehacker, Gizmodo, and Kotaku.

[citation needed] In 2014, Fairfax Media founded online streaming company Stan with Nine Entertainment, investing $50 million into the joint venture.

[55] Fairfax Media published metropolitan, agricultural, regional and community newspapers, financial and consumer magazines.

Fairfax also owned papers in major regional centres, including the Illawarra Mercury (Wollongong), The Newcastle Herald (Newcastle), The Border Mail (Albury-Wodonga), The Daily Advertiser (Wagga Wagga), The Warrnambool Standard (Warrnambool), The Courier (Ballarat) and Bendigo Advertiser (Bendigo).

Fairfax publishes web editions of most of its newspaper titles, as well as digital only news sites in South East Queensland as the Brisbane Times; and in Western Australia as WAtoday.

[58] Allure Media own a range of websites, including the Australian licenses for Lifehacker, Gizmodo and Kotaku.

[60] Parent company Nine retained most of the proceeds of the sale of Stuff's broadband subsidiary to Vocus Group, and maintained control of its Wellington printing press operation.