John Fairfax Holdings Limited
ACN 008 663 161

SYDNEY, October 11, 1999 – John Fairfax Holdings Limited [ASX:FXJ] announced today the introduction of two new share ownership plans for its employees.

The two new plans would permit employees to purchase shares in the Company through salary sacrifice in a tax-effective way. All shares to be purchased under these new plans will be acquired by on-market transactions, and therefore will not dilute the holdings of other shareholders.

Mr Fred Hilmer, Chief Executive of Fairfax, said:

"I have stated from my first days as Chief Executive that I am committed to Fairfax’s growth as a leading media company, and to promoting shareholder value. We want our employees to be fully involved in this process and to participate directly in Fairfax, both its core businesses and with F2, our interactive businesses subsidiary.

"I would be delighted to see a significant majority of our employees participating in one of these two plans."

The new plans track existing share ownership programs offered to employees by many other companies, and have received the necessary approvals from the ASX and the ASIC.

For further information, please contact:

Bruce Wolpe, Manager, Corporate Affairs (02) 9282 3640

Note to editors:

John Fairfax Holdings [ASX:FXJ] is Australia’s leading publishing group. Its mastheads include The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review, The Age, The Sun-Herald, and BRW. In addition, the Company publishes financial and consumer magazines, and provides online services. In 1999, the Company had revenues of over $1.1 billion.

F2, the Fairfax Interactive Network, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of John Fairfax Holdings Limited [ASX:FXJ] and incorporates Fairfax Online; the SOLD.com.au online auction site; CitySearch city guides to Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra; and Big Colour Pages, a national Internet and print directory.

F2 includes Australia's leading news and business sites (smh.com.au, theage.com.au, afr.com.au and brw.com.au); investment sites (tradingroom.com.au, moneymanager.com.au, shares.com.au and personalinvestment.com.au); automotive supersite (drive.com.au); search/directory site (melbournetoday.com.au); Australia's leading classifieds (market.fairfax.com.au); major employment sites (mycareer.com.au and itjobs.fairfax.com.au); Australia's leading online auction site (SOLD.com.au); sports sites (sportstoday.com.au, rugbyheaven.com.au, footy99.com.au, cricket.fairfax.com.au and smh.com.au/league); property sites (domain.com.au, apn.brw.com.au); travel site (walkabout.com.au); city guides for Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra (Citysearch.com.au); Big Colour Pages, the only complete national Internet and print business directory; and free email (todaymail.com.au).

Fairfax is Australia’s leading content provider on the Internet, with more than 1.2 million page views, and more than 180,000 site visits, per day.

Fairfax > Corporate Affairs & Media Releases > Announcements > SHARE EQUITY PLANS