“BusinessDay believes the publisher's chairman, Ron Walker, hastily organised a board meeting last Wednesday - two days after the CMH bid was revealed - where directors urged the 63-year-old to consider resigning from Fairfax (owner of The Age),” the BusinessDay report states.

Fairfax has not named a replacement for Burrows. However, the board may continue on with nine members, and appoint a remaining director to fill the position of deputy chairman.

Burrows said in Fairfax's stock exchange announcement that he did not believe his role as head of corporate adviser Lazard Carnegie Wylie interfered with his position at Fairfax.

“I believe that Lazard Carnegie Wylie acting for (Lachlan Murdoch's) Illyria Pty Ltd would not give rise to a potential conflict with my role as a director of Fairfax Media,” he said, according to BusinessDay. “However, I acknowledge that perceptions of a potential conflict have arisen and that these perceptions are not in the best interests of Fairfax or the proposed (CMH) transaction.”

Australian Shareholders Association Deputy Chairman Stephen Matthews told BusinessDay his group “certainly had some concerns” about the two roles Burrows had taken on.

“Mr. Burrows should either have not taken on the role in the first place acting for Murdoch, or he should have resigned his position at Fairfax,” Matthews told BusinessDay. “I think Mr. Burrows has now done the right thing and stepped aside.”

Burrows will receive AU$122,500 in directors' fees for the first seven months of the fiscal year, as well as a $215,000 retirement bonus.