John Fairfax Holdings Limited
ACN 008 663 161

Its Wholly-Owned Subsidiary for Interactive Businesses

SYDNEY, September 17, 1999 - Mr Fred Hilmer, Chief Executive Officer of John Fairfax Holdings Limited [ASX:FXJ] announced today that the Company would separate its interactive businesses within a wholly-owned subsidiary, F2, with a commitment to provide funds over the next three years in excess of $100 million.

F2 will be led by Nigel Dews, who has been appointed Chief Executive Officer, and the business will be moving to separate premises.

Mr Hilmer said the Board and senior management of Fairfax had determined that this course of action was the best way to both build our business and hence value for shareholders at this time, and to preserve and enhance future options for the interactive businesses.

In announcing the decision, Mr Hilmer said:

"F2 is now a very valuable business, as significant as any Internet company in Australia, and we have structured it to realise its full value within Fairfax. We are totally committed to building this business, as evidenced by our recent move to full ownership of CitySearch Australia and Big Colour Pages. If the market and investors are looking for the quality Internet stock in Australia, it is FXJ.

"This structure builds shareholder value through our interactive business in three critical ways:

"First, we maintain our capacity for fast and aggressive moves. F2 can grow quickly and with agility, consistent with the demands of the e-commerce market, and without the complexity and encumbrances of two separately listed entities. This better harnesses the synergies between our print and interactive businesses.

"Second, we have ample financial resources to do this. We can put the strength of our balance sheet behind F2 to accelerate the growth of this business. The wholly-owned structure is currently more efficient and tax-effective, and will also enable us to capture, down the road, any benefits from final enactment of the Ralph business tax reforms.

"Third, we are optimising our position in a volatile market for Internet stocks and protecting our shareholders from value diminution in the current environment.

"In addition to building the business and its value at this time, our decision preserves and enhances our future options.

"We are the first major publishing company in the world to develop comprehensive models for a content agreement and employee incentives for its separate interactive business. This is breaking new ground. Our structure enables us to implement these new agreements and arrangements without exposing our employees, customers and shareholders to unnecessary risk. We can make further strategic moves at a time of our choosing if and when it makes sense to do so."

Mr Hilmer thanked the joint lead managers, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, for their work with the Company. "This has been a very valuable process that has sharpened our strategy and found new roads for expansion."

September 17, 1999

-- ENDS --

For further information, please contact:

Fred Hilmer, Chief Executive Officer, Fairfax - Tel: (02) 9282 2822

Nigel Dews, Chief Executive Officer, F2 - Tel: (02) 9282 2830

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, the Company’s online and interactive businesses, includes Australia’s leading news sites (smh.com.au, theage.com.au, and afr.com.au) and financial sites (brw.com.au, tradingroom.com.au and moneymanager.com.au), the major car supersite (drive.com.au), Australia’s leading classifieds (Fairfax@market), and major employment sites mycareer.com.au and itjobs.fairfax.com.au.

Fairfax recently launched SOLD.com.au, the leading Australian online auction site.

F2 also includes Citysearch.com.au, Australia’s biggest online city guides, Big Colour Pages, the only complete national Internet and print directory in the country, and a series of sports sites (rugbyheaven.com.au, Footy99.com.au, cricket.fairfax.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.

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