GINA REINHART CONFIRMS FAIRFAX SHARE RAID

For those of you who don’t know, Fairfax is The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age & many local newspapers while Rinehart is Australia’s richest woman & a massive mining magnate. This means lots of fair, unbiased reporting on the mining industry in the Pilbarra region, fracking etc etc. Oh, and did you know that evil Rupert owns about 7%?? Enjoy your free press!

Mining billionaire Gina Rinehart has confirmed she has increased her stake in Fairfax Media to nearly 19 per cent.

In a statement to the stock exchange, Mrs Rinehart's company, Hancock Prospecting, confirmed she had raised her 12.6 per cent stake in the media company to 18.7 per cent of Fairfax shares in two separate raids last week.

The confirmation came shortly after Fairfax announced it would slash 1,900 jobs as it deals with the rise of digital media and a slump in print readership.

Fairfax said today it would close two printing plants, move its Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers to tabloid format and introduce digital subscriptions for those two mastheads.

Two per cent of the media company's shares were bought in one transaction on June 14, sparking intense speculation Mrs Rinehart was behind the purchase.

The next day, nearly 70 million shares were purchased in one transaction after the market closed.

Mrs Rinehart was already the majority Fairfax shareholder before last week's acquisitions.

Under the Corporations Act, she cannot hold more than 20 per cent of the company's shares without first making a takeover bid.

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