Our History

The company, originally established as John Fairfax and Sons, became known as Fairfax Media and was one of the largest media companies in Australia, having investments in newspapers, magazines, radio and the internet.

In 1987, a leveraged buy-out by John B. Fairfax’s cousin, Warwick Fairfax, led John to divest his interest in John Fairfax Limited. With the proceeds, John and his three siblings established one of Australia’s first family offices, Cambooya Pty Ltd, to professionally manage the family’s assets.

John also became an active direct investor through his private company Marinya Holdings. He remained involved in the media by purchasing a smaller media company, Rural Press, for around $20m.

Under his chairmanship, Rural Press went public and grew into a substantial player in the media industry, publishing more than 240 magazines and newspapers in Australia, New Zealand and the USA, as well as owning radio stations and commercial printing businesses. In 2007, Rural Press was sold to Fairfax Media in return for stock and cash, in a transaction that valued Rural Press at AUD2.8bn.

Between 2007 and 2011, Marinya Holdings, as the largest shareholder of Fairfax Media, spent considerable time focusing on trying to reposition Fairfax Media to take advantage of the opportunities associated with the disruption it was facing from the online world. Lack of positive change led Marinya Holdings to sell its stake in Fairfax Media in late 2010. Early in 2011, Marinya Holdings also sold its second largest investment, a stake in privately held Swiss electricity metering company Landis & Gyr, which was acquired by Toshiba for USD$2.3bn.

In 2012, John and his wife Libby, along with Nick, his wife Sandra and their children, left Cambooya (the family office they shared with John’s siblings) to establish their own single-family office, Marinya Capital.