That doesn't include the $220 million dividend Fairfax extracted in 2011 to cancel related party debt owed to the auction site. Trade Me has been considered the jewel in Fairfax's crown, growing revenue and underlying earnings since the media group bought it under former chief executive David Kirk in 2006 for some $700 million, a price considered steep by analysts at the time. The sale is seen as a move to pay down Fairfax's mounting debt as it overhauls its business away from printing presses and into the digital world, and is part of a shift away from indebtedness after Rupert Murdoch said the publishing arm of his media empire will be debt-free after the News Corp demerger.