Paul McIntyre: Kirk aims to lead Fairfax from front

It's taken 15 months but finally newspaper and online publisher John Fairfax has decided on a chief executive, who goes by the name of David Kirk.

Fairfax has been on a road to nowhere in its search for someone to take over from Fred Hilmer, who, like Kirk, is a former McKinsey management consultant.

For those New Zealanders concerned about Kirk's allegiance, he declared on Wednesday that his heart still belonged to the All Blacks and his New Zealand-only citizenship stops him voting in Australia.

The announcement of Kirk's appointment was generally viewed with relief - finally Fairfax has a new boss.

Earlier in the year, the company nearly had Doug Flynn, a former head of News International and boss of London marketing communications holding company Aegis, over the line before Fairfax indicated he wanted too much money - about A$5 million a year.

Flynn's line, however, was that Fairfax took too long in its negotiations and he opted for an A$11 million annual package running pest controller Rentokil.

After another global search, Fairfax opted for the former All Black captain, who, while cheaper than Flynn, ain't cheap. Kirk lands an A$1.2 million sign-on bonus and up to A$3 million in a salary package to run a media company which is aiming to gulp rather than be gulped if the Federal Government relaxes its cross-media ownership laws in the next 12 months. If Fairfax is taken over, Kirk gets a further A$2 million.

He admitted on Wednesday to being first approached late last year before it all went quiet. Discussions started again three months ago and he will join Fairfax in November.

The company publishes Australian metropolitan broadsheets such as the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age in Melbourne and the Australian Financial Review, plus a string of Australian suburban and community papers and metropolitan and regional papers in New Zealand.

Kirk's appointment was announced this week at the same time as Fairfax unveiled its new chairman, Ron Walker, a Melbourne business establishment figure and former Treasurer for the Liberal Party who made millions brokering deals in the global Formula One racing circuit with founder Bernie Eccelstone.

Some of Kirk's first public comments on Wednesday were to massage Fairfax journalists, who have been the target of a relentless cost-cutting programme over the past five years under Hilmer.

"My strategy will be to drive operational performance improvement and to provide an environment where the talent of the journalists can thrive," he said. "They are the heart and soul of the organisation."

He said he was passionately interested in the media. "I have always been interested in newspapers and content."

If the Government pushes ahead with media ownership reforms, he will arrive in November with a full agenda.

Industry speculation has possible Fairfax joint ventures or mergers with TV broadcasters and Nine Network. Fairfax has also been linked to other newspaper groups such as West Australian Newspapers and Rural Press.

And there is always the chance that Fairfax will be gobbled up in a hostile takeover, hence Kirk's US$2 million change-of-control clause may prove quite handy.

And speaking of hostile takeovers, hasn't Sir Richard Branson pulled a rabbit out of the hat to regain control of his beloved Virgin Blue airline.

He lost majority control of Virgin Blue this year after being outplayed by Chris Corrigan, the head of transport and stevedoring giant Patrick Corporation.

But now Corrigan is fighting a hostile takeover from another transport group, Toll Holdings, whose boss, Paul Little, has done a deal with Sir Richard where he will buy a 15 per cent parcel off Toll for $220 million, or $1.40 a share.

That's a sharp discount on the current trading price of about $1.70 and well below the $2.25 which Sir Richard got when Virgin Blue listed in 2002.

All eyes now are on how Corrigan fights Toll's hostile bid. Branson, for one, wants his planes back.

* Paul McIntyre is a Sydney journalist.