Metro media chief executive Jack Matthews will oversee a reorganisation of Fairfax Media’s structure before leaving the company.
He and former regional head Allan Browne are the two highest-profile casualties of structural and leadership changes announced today.
The company describes the changes as “the next phase” of its transformation following a change of focus from print to digital, claiming more than two thirds of its audience now access the group’s journalism by digital means.
Changes will “simplify the organisational structure to optimise opportunities that a predominantly digital future provides”.
Australian publishing businesses are being consolidated, and Fairfax reorganised into five divisions.
These are:
1 Australian Publishing Media, incorporating metro flagships the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, other businesses previously within the metro media division, the Financial Review Group, Fairfax Regional Media, Agricultural Media, and Fairfax Community Newspapers NSW;
2 Domain – both the print and digital elements and the Metro Media Publishing joint venture – becomes a separate division;
3 Digital Ventures, including Stayz, RSVP, TenderLink, and other digital businesses. The existing Marketplaces division is being discontinued;
4 & 5 Fairfax Radio and Fairfax New Zealand, both of which remain unchanged from the previous structure.
Within Australian Publishing Media, four units will be grouped News Media, Business Media, Life Media and Australian Community Media. While journalists “will continue to focus on their areas of functional specialty”, and editors-in-chief “will remain solely focused on their mastheads and delivering for their own audiences”, integrated teams will work across the division in sales, ‘audience insights and marketing’, business planning and analysis, and product development.
Advertising production, editorial production, contact centres, printing, distribution and circulation services remain company-wide functions.
Chief executive and managing director Greg Hywood says the formation of Australian Publishing Media will simplify the way Fairfax does business: “We have already integrated our print and digital activities in the metro division, making us a genuine multiplatform media company.
“The next phase of our transformation is to deliver the full potential of our Australian news, business, lifestyle and community media businesses. Sharing expertise across sales, marketing and product development will give us the ability to deliver our journalism as efficiently and effectively as possible.”
He says the restructure will reduce bureaucracy and enable greater collaboration, but stresses: “What will not change is our commitment to quality journalism and great products.”
Instead of five of the existing ‘executive leadership team’ roles, there will be only three. Current Fairfax NZ chief executive Allen Williams – whose backgroubnd includes extensive experience with Rural Press – becomes managing director of Australian Publishing Media.
Andrew Boyle, general manager of Fairfax NZ’s southern region, will be acting managing director of Fairfax New Zealand.
Hywood says Brett Clegg and Grant Cochrane will be taking on new roles within Australian Publishing Media, as will Nic Cola, who was previously responsible for Marketplaces.
“Jack Matthews and Allan Browne will be assisting with the transition to the new organisational structure and will then be leaving Fairfax,” he says.
Matthews, who moved from a digital-only role to take charge of Fairfax’s who print-and-digital metro businesses, says his seven years at Fairfax has been “a fantastic experience”. Browne has spent 25 years with Rural Press and post-merger, Fairfax.
Hywood says Fairfax is “a lot different” from the company Matthews joined seven years ago. “He has driven the change, building a strong team and leading the integration of the digital and print businesses. He has told me that he has achieved all that he set out to at Fairfax Media and it’s time for his next challenge.”