McCarthy replaces Kirk as Fairfax boss

Kirk resigned from his position last Friday after a wave of staff cuts at the company and a recent drop in Fairfax's share price. Around 550 full-time jobs were cut in August, with the scalps also including the editors of Fairfax's two biggest newspapers, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

Kirk was CEO at Fairfax for three years and was previously chief executive of PMP Limited.

Brian McCarthy is a former boss of Rural Press, which merged with Fairfax in 2007. Ron Walker has kept his position as chairman of Fairfax.