Kerry Packer, Australia’s wealthiest man whose media empire dominates its television and magazine landscape, died at his Sydney home on Monday night after battling a long illness. He was 68.
Listed by Forbes magazine as the 94th-richest man in the world, Packer amassed a $5-billion fortune on the back of a family business that he ran for 25 years.
He was also instrumental in transforming the world of cricket through his World Series gambit of the late 1970s that introduced coloured clothing, white balls and floodlights — as well as better pay — to the international game.
A spokesperson for his Publishing and Broadcasting group confirmed that Packer died peacefully at home with his family at his bedside.
A heavy smoker, Packer had suffered a series of health scares over recent years. He underwent a kidney transplant in November 2000, receiving an organ donated by his helicopter pilot and long-term friend Nicholas Ross. His other kidney was removed after it was found to be cancerous in 1986.
In 1990, he suffered a near-fatal heart attack that saw his heart stop during a polo match. He commented after the incident: ”The good news is there’s no devil. The bad news is there’s no heaven. There’s nothing.”
Packer had a heart bypass operation the following year and was in hospital in both Sydney and New York several times since.
‘Larger than life’
The country’s Prime Minister, John Howard, described Packer as a great Australian.
”He was a larger-than-life character and in so many ways he left his mark on the Australian community over a very long career in business.”
At the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the Australian national team, who are currently playing South Africa, wore black armbands and the crowd observed a minute’s silence.
Tony Greig, the former England captain and trusted lieutenant of Packer, said the world has lost a truly great Australian.
”He was a bloke with such an incredible sense of fun and there was that charisma whenever you were associated with him. We’ll all miss him greatly.”
The commentator and former player Richie Benaud said: ”There was never anything mundane or orthodox about him. The thing that struck me most was that he was concerned only with the players. It was his job to put [the state of cricket] right, and put it right he did. He was absolutely brilliant.”
The second son of Sir Frank and Lady Gretel Packer, Kerry entered the family business, Australian Consolidated Press, in 1956. In 1974, he took over running the conglomerate.
Just three years later, he was taking on the cricket establishment, signing the game’s top players under the banner of World Series Cricket.
He gained full control of the media company in 1982, in a move that ultimately allowed him to make his multibillion-dollar fortune. He shrewdly sold the Nine Network to Alan Bond for $1-billion in 1987, and was able to buy it back for a quarter of the price three years later.
He also indulged his passions of gambling and horses. An impulsive gambler, he is rumoured to have once lost £13-million in a three-day session in Las Vegas.
Packer combined his media and gaming interests into Publishing and Broadcasting in 1994, eventually handing over to his son James in 1998.
The empire includes Australia’s Nine television network, bestselling magazines and Melbourne’s Crown Casino. He recently acquired a 50% stake in the British gaming company Betfair’s Australian and New Zealand operations. James is expected to take over the whole empire.
Packer’s 1970s revolution
Kerry Packer was the man who dragged cricket kicking and screaming into the modern media era. His World Series instituted gaudy uniforms and replaced red balls with white ones in spot-lit day-night matches, to cater for television viewers.
Still in his late teens when he joined the family business, Australian Consolidated Press, one of Packer’s first moves after taking control was to take on the cricket establishment.
”My life was sport. I was academically stupid. My method of surviving through school was sport,” he once said.
In 1977, he became furious at the Australian Cricket Board’s refusal to accept an Aus$1,5-million bid for the television rights to Australian Test matches and Sheffield Shield Cricket, a domestic competition.
So he exclusively signed up more than 50 of the game’s top players — including England captain Tony Greig — under the brand of World Series Cricket, angering traditionalists with his fast-moving version of the game. He described his action as ”half-philanthropic” and some of his protégés, such as Pakistan captain Javed Miandad, dubbed him ”Uncle Kerry”.
He was willing to pay cricketers at unprecedented levels to win their loyalty, ushering in the fully professional era in the sport. He split the game: the International Cricket Conference portrayed him as divisive and lacking respect for the game’s traditions.
But Packer was unperturbed: ”I’ve read about Genghis Khan: he wasn’t very loveable, but he was bloody efficient,” he reportedly said.
He ultimately achieved his goal: the Australian Cricket Board surrendered and awarded him television rights to top matches. — Guardian Unlimited Â