Fairfax Classified Ads Fall as Much as 40%, Australian Says

By Iain Wilson

Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Classified advertising at some of Fairfax Media Ltd.'s largest metropolitan newspapers in Australia has declined by as much as 40 percent this year, the Australian newspaper said, citing a report from broker Goldman Sachs JBWere.

The volume of classified ad pages at all of Fairfax's metropolitan publications fell 13 percent in July compared with the same month a year earlier, the report said. Volumes fell 19 percent in August, it said.

Pages devoted to the employment classified market at the Sydney Morning Herald fell 25 percent in July and were down 28 percent in August, the newspaper said.

Fairfax, Australia's second-biggest newspaper publisher, announced last month that it would eliminate 5 percent of its payroll in a bid to shave A$50 million ($41 million) off annual costs.

To contact the reporter on this story: Iain Wilson in Sydney at iwilson2@bloomberg.net