Media and gambling magnate Kerry Packer was estimated to have lost 300-million dollars (US$162-million) in the last 12 months but his personal fortune of 5,9-billion dollars (US$3,2-billion) still keeps him top of the pile in Australia.
Packer’s PBL company was hit badly by son James’s misadventure into the collapsed phone company One.Tel.
Packer, whose helicopter pilot gave him a kidney in a life-saving transplant two years ago, retook day to day control of the family empire after the collapse of One.Tel last July.
However, Forbes magazine estimates former Australian Rupert Murdoch is worth US$5,7-billion, down from 7,8-billion last year. Murdoch became an American citizen in 1985 to buy into the US media.
Forbes puts Packer at No 157 in the world.
The BRW magazine list of Australia’s richest 200 people, to be published on Thursday, puts shopping mall magnate Frank Lowy second with 4,2 billion-dollars (US$2,2-billion) — 700 million dollars (US$378-million) more than last year.
Third richest was packaging and cardboard king Richard Pratt with 3,8 billion (US$2,05-billion).
There are 10 billionaires on the list, one more than last year, with Kerry Stokes joining the super-rich club thanks to his tractor business making up for the fall in the share price of his Seven television network.
His estimated fortune was put at 1,2-billion (US$648-million).
Hollywood star Nicole Kidman joins the top 200 with 112-million dollars (US$60-million).
Iron ore heiress Gina Rinehart (48) is Australia’s richest woman with 280-million (US$151-million).
She is chairman of Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd, which derives its income from iron-ore royalties but has never itself mined ore. The combined wealth of Australia’s richest 200 people has increased by seven percent, from 60-billion (US$32-billion) to almost 65-billion (US$35-billion). – AFP