Buy-now Price $700 Million

John Fairfax Holdings has bought New Zealand internet auction site Trade Me for $700 million. What started as one young Wellingtonian looking to buy a second-hand heater to warm his drafty Mount Victoria flat in 1999, has expanded exponentially to become the most visited website in New Zealand with 1.2 million registered users and one of the most successful edge enterprises in years. Trade Me will continue to operate as a stand alone business, with founder and Chief Executive Sam Morgan continuing to run the company with a board of Trade Me and Fairfax executives.