Fairfax Writes Down Media Assets
The Fairfax media group has written down the value of its Metro media division – which, like most other news media groups, has been suffering from the move to online sources – by almost $1 billion
Fairfax said it is separating the financial results of its money-spinning Domain real-estate business – which was responsible for more than 50 percent of Fairfax’s first-half earnings – from Australian Metro Media, which includes masthead titles The Age, the Australian Financial Review and the Sydney Morning Herald.
The value of the media unit will be written down by $484.9 million, the single largest chunk in a package of pre-tax impairments totalling $989 million, says AAP.
Said Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood: “The new segment presentation for Metro provides a clearer picture of the operational performance of the business as it transitions to a new sustainable publishing model over time.”