James Packer

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Kerry Packer and James Packer

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James Douglas Packer (born September 8, 1967) is an Australian businessman and Australia's third richest man.

Packer is the son of the late billionaire media mogul Kerry Packer and grandson of Frank Packer. James Packer is the Executive Chairman of Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL), which owns some stations of the Australian commercial television network Nine. He also inherited the family private company: Consolidated Press Holdings Pty Ltd, which control investments in PBL and other companies.

Biography
Packer was educated at the Tudor House School in Moss Vale and at Cranbrook School. After obtaining the Higher School Certificate ( HSC ) at Cranbrook, Kerry decided it was time to toughen his son up to prepare him for the world of business. He was sent to his father's massive Newcastle Waters cattle station in the Northern Territory, where he worked as a jackeroo. His father dismissed the idea of sending young James to University by saying "Why would he want to go [to University]. To go learn to smoke marijuana?"]

Besides his father, his toughest mentor has been Albert J. Dunlap. Dunlap is known in American business circles for shedding massive numbers of company workforces to improve the finances of corporations. His tenure at Sunbeam is a specific example.

One.Tel
Main article: One.Tel
James Packer was a director of Australian Telecommunications company One.Tel, which was declared insolvent during May 2001. The collapse of One.Tel cost PBL AU$327 million. Packer admitted at a PBL Annual General Meeting that he had learned "painful lessons" from the collapse of One.Tel. Later at the liquidator's inquiry over the collapse he denied that he was apologising for his own personal conduct. Instead he claimed, "I was making an apology for accepting the bona fides of Mr. Rich and a Mr. Tim Heaney, and the executive directors of One.Tel."

Current interests
Since his father's death, James has moved away from the family's traditional media businesses, and focused on creating a worldwide gambling empire. The purchase of the Burswood Entertainment Complex in Perth Australia adds to PBL's gaming business. James now wishes to add further gaming assets in Macau in partnership with Stanley Ho. He's also teaming up with Damian Aspinall, son of John Aspinall, in creating a group of casino complexes in Great Britain called Aspers. He already has a stake in casinos in London's West End, Swansea and Newcastle. Unfortunately for Packer, his bid for a UK "supercasino" based in Cardiff fell through when only one licence was granted to the northern city of Manchester. PBL also owns 50% of the only gambling company Betfair. Packer also owns Melbourne's Crown Casino, Australia's largest casino.

Packer is part of the Australian consortium looking to purchase Aston Martin from Ford, a venture viewed with much scepticism due to Aston Martin's turbulent loss-making past.

Wealth
James Packer is reportedly worth over $AUD7.1 billion, an increase from $AUD6.9 billion prior to his fathers death. This is more than $2 billion more than Australia's second richest man, Frank Lowy.

He recently purchased a new jet for $50 million and spent a similar amount on the first ever Mangusta 167 motor cruiser. Whilst waiting on delivery of the Mangusta 167 he has been loaned a Mangusta 108.

Personal Life
Packer's past girlfriends have included Tania Bryer and Joan Severance. After breaking off a two year engagement to Kate Fischer, in October 1999, he married swimsuit model Jodhi Meares.

In June 2002 Packer and Meares separated. Despite rumours of reuniting with his ex-wife, Packer became engaged to model Erica Baxter whom he has dated on and off for 4 years.

Update: James Packer married Erica Baxter in July 2008

Scientology
In 2002, Packer began attending the Church of Scientology, taking courses on the Church's Dundas campus. It was reported in the Australian media that Tom Cruise had urged Packer to join Scientology and begin auditing sessions. Tom Cruise had a very close male bonding, especially after his separation from Kidman. The Sydney Morning Herald said "the bond between the two men strengthened in the wake of the collapse of telephony company One.Tel last year and his separation from wife Jodhi in June". During this time, Packer traveled extensively to the Scientology Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles.

It has been reported by the Australian Daily Telegraph that Packer was an extra in Cruise's film The Last Samurai. (Credit: Wikipedia)

Other

James Packer owns property and is often seen at Bondi Beach

Article

My Thoughts on Casino Mogul James Packer, by Greg Tingle - 7th March 2009
(Credit: Gambling911)

Media Man, Greg Tingle, has provided Gambling911.com with a few thoughts related to Australian casino maestro James Packard. Mr. Packard we learn - like everyone else out there - is falling on some hard times these days.

It's tough being the son of the legend, even if you're a billionaire. James Packer did inherit an empire and he paid his dues via listening and learning from his father, and even working on Newcastle Waters Cattle Station for years, and of course receiving the private education at Cranbrook, Sydney. On education, Kerry Packer once famously said, "Why would he want to go there (university)? To learn to smoke marijuana? At his father's funeral he said, 'Dad was my mentor and my teacher, but above all, he was my father and that is my greatest fortune..."

In recent years James Packer has found out for himself how tough business is and I believe it's true that the Australian (and international) news media doesn't fear the potential repercussions by writing about James Packer and the family as much as they once did for his late father. Let's not forget for a second that "they" were nicknamed 'The Goanna' by the Costigan Commission, with a list of allegations that Kerry flatly denied, and they are not worth repeating here, but a couple of the themes are covered on Network Nine's 'Underbelly' in relation to the casino, gaming and racing industry.

Insiders close to the James Packer situation almost universally agree that he appears to have made two main business mistakes... the One.Tel telco fiasco in Australia back in 2001. One.Tel was a 1 billion dollar mistake. The other more recent mistakes being buying land based casinos in the Macau region (at top dollar), but James was not to know the ass would fall out of the market. Some analysts say some of the casino investments are worth next to nothing. Hang on, wouldn't James Packer be paying people good advice on what to buy, what not to, and how much to pay? Packer didn't have a luxury of a crystal ball.

The good news for Packer and the rest of us is that history shows us that global recessions don't last forever, or do they? The global economy has been punishing Packer for the past few years and it's largely matters which are outside his control, so I think the Australian's press should give him a break and try to reflect a more balanced approach to journalism in regards to covering the business of being James Packer. Australia does have that 'tall poppy" syndrome, but frankly, the I think the digs at James Packer are getting pretty tied and long in the tooth. I wouldn't want to be their next target, but there's smarter than to do that anyway.

In a recent wise and generous decision, James Packer's Crown Casino and Burswood Casino's donated $500,000 to assist with the Victorian Bushfire relief effort, also supported by The Shane Warne Foundation and The Salvation Army. I affectionately refer to the casino identities as the 'Gumleaf Mafia', a term open to interpretation. In any effect its great to see money largely raised by the usually lucrative gaming industry being put to good use and be poured back into Australian society where its needed the most. Interesting enough Australia's press was unusually quite on the matter, despite some personal phone calls from I to the Australian Financial Review, however Gambling911 was very quick to report the good news, with CAP and Poker News Daily later following suite. The press seemed more interested in the crashing of the Commonwealth Bank website which caused me to deposit some money in the wrong account! Just imagine if it had been Packer's mistake, you wouldn't hear of it. Packer, if you're reading this - and we know you will get to it eventually via the Bush Telegraph - don't listen to the knockers. You're a champion bloke with a beautiful family. Hang in there, things will pick up, and just keep enjoying life you tough and likable Aussie bastard.

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