KEY POINTS:
He's rugby's golden boy, the man who led the All Blacks to their only World Cup victory.
But David Kirk's off-field career took a dive yesterday when he stepped down from a $4.2 million-a-year job heading Fairfax Media - and shares in the company soared.
Mr Kirk, the Rhodes scholar who captained the All Blacks to World Cup victory over France in 1987, has a CV that reads like a young lad's wish list.
The Palmerston North boy trained as a doctor, left top-level rugby to study at Oxford, then switched his attention to business and politics.
He advised former Prime Minister Jim Bolger and held high-ranking positions at Fletcher Challenge and Norske Skog before becoming chief executive of Australian printing and media company PMP.
Mr Kirk did not explain his resignation yesterday. But a power struggle has been raging since last month, when the Fairfax board had a meeting without him.
There was speculation shareholder John B. Fairfax might push for new leadership to try to reverse an earnings slump that resulted in the publisher axing about 550 jobs.
News of Mr Kirk's resignation sent the Fairfax share price up - it immediately jumped 9 per cent, but settled later in the day.
In a statement to the Australian stock exchange, Mr Kirk said it had been a privilege to lead Fairfax in a time of "great change and challenge".
The setback is not the first for Mr Kirk. In 1991 he missed selection as National's candidate to replace Sir Robert Muldoon in the Tamaki electorate. In 1995 he was involved in a failed Wellington bakery venture, and a stint as Wellington rugby coach lasted only two years.
But while he watched over the purchase of Trade Me and a merger with large Australian publisher the Rural Press, he could not halt falling advertising revenue.
In New Zealand, Fairfax publishes the Dominion Post, the Sunday Star Times and other daily and community newspapers.
