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Kerry
Packer
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Kerry
Packer passed away on the 26th December 2005
Kerry
Packer and James
Packer
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Kerry
Packer was Australia’s richest man for many
years. Packer was a media mogul in every sense
of the word.
The
media business is what attributes to his wealth
and power, and with ownership of the Channel Nine
television network, and 60% of the magazine market,
and interests in Pay TV, he is a force to be reckoned
with.
Sir
Frank Packer established the media empire in 1933,
with Women’s Weekly, the magazine was hugely
successful and it allowed Sir Frank to expand
his business beginning with newspapers like Sydney's
Daily Telegraph.
In
a rare interview broadcast on radio in 1979, Packer
Jr. talked about his tough upbringing, at the
hand of his father.
"I
mean I got a lot of hidings because that's the
sort of person I was and the sort of person he
was."
Kerry's
young life was lonely and disrupted.
He
was sent to boarding school at the age of five,
and just a year later caught a serious illness
called polio myelitis or infantile paralysis.
Today
children are immunised against the virus, but
in the 1940s severe cases could kill or leave
a child crippled.
Kerry's
case was severe and he spent nine months immobilised
in an iron lung, an early version of a respirator,
which helped him to breathe.
By
the time he got back to boarding school, at the
age of nine, he was way behind his fellow students.
Fortunately
his recovery from polio had been complete because
it was his size and strength that helped him excel
in one area , sport.
"My
life was sport. I was academically stupid. My
method of surviving through school and those sorts
of things was sport."
Kerry
finished school when he was 19 and went to work
for his father's newspapers. He took over the
business when Sir Frank died in 1974.
However
difficult their relationship, Kerry admired his
father and from the start he was a lot like him.
Kerry
also liked to win, and his often did.
In
1977, when he couldn't get exclusive television
rights to Sheffield and Test cricket he made up
his own teams with the best players in the world
and started World Series Cricket.
If
the Australian Cricket Board wanted the services
of these players it would have to give Kerry the
TV rights and, in 1979, after a long struggle,
he got his way.
Another
business trait of Kerry Packer's is timing - knowing
when to sell and when to buy.
In
1987, he sold his two Channel Nine TV stations
to Alan Bond for one billion dollars.
It
was a lot more than they were worth and the deal
made Kerry Packer his first billion.
Three
years later, Bond was in financial trouble and
Kerry bought the stations back for just two hundred
and fifty million dollars.
But
things haven't always gone Kerry Packer's way.
In
1991, he attempted to increase his media empire
by buying the Fairfax newspaper group, today often
referred to as f2.
Many
members of parliament believed Kerry already had
way too much control over the media, and wanted
to limit what he could own. Kerry wasn't happy
and his anger gave us a rare public glimpse of
his personal determination.
"I'm
telling you there is no arrangement. No agreement.
I am not going to run John Fairfax."
Today
Kerry Packer leaves most of the running of his
business to others, in particular his son, James.
His
greatest love is polo and he spends three months
of every year in England playing the game and
millions of dollars on horses, stables and players
for his own team.
In
1990, a heart attack while playing polo left him
literally dead for six minutes until he was revived
by ambulance officers.
But
once again his return to form has been spectacular.
Kerry
Packer has, and will continue to leave his mark
on the Australian media business.
*Kerry
Packer passed away in December 2005
*Casino
News Media would like to publicly thank Kerry
Packer's staff for their support and assistance
over the years.
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