Australia's Fairfax Media picks new chairman

Published: 12 Oct 2009 17:29:17 PST

MELBOURNE, Oct 13 - Australian publisher Fairfax Media <FXJ.AX> named Roger Corbett, former chief of top supermarkets group Woolworths Ltd <WOW.AX>, as chairman, ending a battle over the post stoked by the group's biggest shareholder.

Corbett will replace Ron Walker, who decided to step down at the end of October, earlier than he had planned. That came after John B Fairfax, whose Marinya Media owns 9.7 percent of the group, went public with a call for fresh blood.

Corbett has been on the board since 2003 and is currently deputy chairman of the group, publisher of the Australian Financial Review and Sydney Morning Herald newspapers.