Warwick Fairfax

For his grandfather, the newspaper publisher, see Warwick Oswald Fairfax
Warwick Fairfax (born December 1960) is an Australian businessman and consultant based in the United States. He was well known in the 1990s as the media heir who privatised the publicly-listed media company, John Fairfax Holdings Limited in 1987; only for the privatised company to fail three years later.

Biography

Fairfax was the son of Warwick Oswald Fairfax and his third wife, Mary. Fairfax was educated at both Oxford and Harvard. He is married with three children and serves as an Elder at Bay Area Community Church.

In 1987, following the death of his father, the 26-year-old 'young Warwick' successfully took over the then publicly-listed John Fairfax Holdings Limited but on 10 December 1990 the company collapsed and a receiver was appointed. The controversial method of financing and purchasing holdings of the established company from family members and the consequential problems arising in the media group in later years are still cited today in Australian media history.

In 1991, he migrated to the United States and settled in Annapolis, Maryland, where he founded a business consultancy and executive coach business.