James Douglas Packer, an Australian business magnate and investor, was born on September 8, 1967. The media tycoon Kerry Packer AC and his wife, Roslyn Packer AC, are the parents of Packer. He is Sir Frank Packer's grandson. Consolidated Press Holdings Limited, the family business, as well as holdings in Crown Resorts and other businesses, were passed down to him. He served as the previous executive chairman of Crown Resorts as well as Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL) and Consolidated Media Holdings, which primarily had media assets across a variety of platforms.
Packer was the wealthiest Australian in 2006 and 2007; as of May 2023, the Financial Review Rich List estimated his net worth to be A$4.95 billion, placing him as the eighteenth-wealthiest Australian. As the ninth-richest Australian, Forbes Asia magazine estimated Packer's net worth at US$3.6 billion in January 2019. Blackstone acquired Crown Casinos in June 2022 with the approval of the Federal Court, giving Packer A$3.36 billion in exchange for his 37 percent ownership in the business, which he has been associated with since 1999.
Early Life
The son of media magnate Kerry Packer and philanthropist Roslyn Packer, James Packer was born in Sydney. The media mogul Sir Frank Packer was his grandpa. Packer attended Cranbrook School in Bellevue Hill, Sydney, for his education. He started working as a jackeroo at his father's sizable Newcastle Waters cattle station on the Barkly Tableland of the Northern Territory after earning the Higher School Certificate (HSC) there. According to Packer, he "didn't have the marks" to attend college. He has mentioned his father and businessman Albert J. Dunlap as mentors.
Career & Life
After the dotcom bubble burst in 2000–2001, Packer invested in the online classified sites Seek and Carsales.com because he thought that newspaper firms that primarily relied on classified advertising were at risk from online competitors in areas like job and automobile listings. In August 2003, Packer paid A$33 million for a 25% share in SEEK. Six years later, for A$440 million, he sold the majority of his interest. In October 2005, Packer persuaded the magazine company then under his family's control, Australian Consolidated Press, to buy a 41% interest in online advertising Carsales. The transaction, which had a $100 million beginning value, ended up being worth $462 million to corporations under Packer's control.
Packer started debating whether to sell Channel Nine and the Australian Consolidated Press magazine company in March 2006 in order to raise money for his entry into the global gambling and travel industries. Packer was concerned about the future of free-to-air television given the changes in media brought on by the Internet and pay-TV. On October 17, 2006, Packer's team reached an agreement to sell CVC Asia Pacific for A$4.5 billion, plus an additional A$1 billion in equity in the new company, which would be known as PBL Media, 50% of the media assets, which also included a 50% stake in web portal Ninemsn and a 51% stake in Carsales.
Since his father passed away, Packer has shifted his attention away from the family's conventional media companies and towards building the global gaming behemoth Crown Resorts. One of the biggest gaming and resort businesses in Australia is called Crown.[Reference required] It has operations and investments in the integrated resort and casino industries in Australia and Macau, and it fully owns and runs Crown Aspinall's, an upscale casino in London. The market value of Crown was above $8 billion in October 2017.
Private Life
In Sydney's eastern suburbs, Bellevue Hill and Bondi Beach, Packer is the owner of residential real estate. Also held by his sister Gretel since 2018, Ellerston Station is a pastoral land holding of the Packer family near Scone. In 2002, Packer started visiting the Church of Scientology in Australia after the dissolution of his first marriage and the emergence of a relationship with American actor Tom Cruise. He took courses at the Church's Dundas business facility. He later acknowledged his participation with Scientology, claiming he had found it "helpful". Later, he cut ties with the church.
Net worth
Packer's fortune was assessed by Forbes magazine to be worth US$3.6 billion as of January 2019, down from the US$6.60 billion Forbes revealed in their 2014 list of the wealthiest Australians. Packer's net worth was estimated at US$3.9 billion, ranking him as the ninth-richest Australian on the 2017 Forbes list of the 50 Richest Australians.