Business

Saturday June 30, 2012

Rinehart gives ultimatum to media group Fairfax chairman


SYDNEY: Mining magnate Gina Rinehart laid down an ultimatum to the chairman of troubled Australia media giant Fairfax meet a number of performance targets or resign.

Rinehart, Fairfax's biggest shareholder, said in an open letter to Roger Corbett that he should quit by November if he did not reverse “the five-year decline in paid circulation and in revenue of the Fairfax mastheads”.

The world's richest woman, whose push for three board seats was rejected by Fairfax this week, also demanded he bring the share price up to 87 Australian cents by their November AGM.

This “would represent only a 50% loss from the commencement of your chairmanship in October 2009”, she said. The stock closed yesterday at 55 Australian cents.

“Shareholders should at the very least be advised what the loss target is, and be assured that should you not meet that target, there would be light at the end of tunnel,” the letter said.

“And if the five-year decline in paid circulation and in revenue of the Fairfax mastheads do not reverse prior to the 2012 AGM, we ask that you tender your resignation at that meeting,” it said. - AFP

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