James Packer Media Man Australia

James Packer

News

Crown Casino Plays Restaurant And Hotel Card - 22nd April 2010

Crown Shares Just Keep Rising - April 2010

Crown Shares up to $8 - 2nd March 2010

Crown not looking to sell Macau casinos to Harrah's Entertainment or anyone else for forseeable future - March 2010

Mr James Packer and Mr Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest team up to help create jobs for Indigenous Australians - 20th February 2010

Win your seat at one of Australia’s biggest poker tournaments

at Crown Casino, Melbourne, Australia

PartyPoker.com website PartyPoker.com profile PartyGaming profile

News

Crown's Packer talks with News, Gambling - iGaming Aussie connection - 24th September 2009

Mediaman founder and director buys Crown Limited and Virgin Blue shares - 12th October 2009

Virgin king and Crown Casino king talk shop and Media Man makes a play -
2nd April 2009

Crown Macau Officially Opened by James Packer

Crown Casino, Burswood Casino and City Of Dreams bottom line much better than industry standard - analysts and industry experts agree - October 2009

James Packer defends casinos as doing good for community
(Credit: AAP - News.com.au)

Crown says casinos continue to do well
(Credit: AAP - SMH.com.au)

Crown is not building a casino or gambling den at Double Bay, Sydney

James Packer delivered a keynote address at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in Sydney - 1st August 2009

Why funding heart research is a sound social investment, by James Packer
(Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)

Mediaman News

Casino News Online Casino News Betting News Crown Casino News

Australian Casino News Global Gaming News Financial News Poker News

Cleopatra

Cleopatra MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE TOP GUN AUSSIE MILLIONS Party Poker

THE GODFATHER GOANNA GOLD SINATRA PartyPoker.com Crown Poker

World Gaming Directory World Casino Directory Multi Currency Casino

Mission: Impossible website MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE slot game profile

AUSSIE MILLIONS POKER CHAMPIONSHIP

News

James Packer (Crown Holdings) and Richard Branson (Virgin Enterprises Limited) talk at the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix, Melbourne, Australia -
March 2009

James Packer opens the City of Dreams, Macau - 1st June 2009

James Packer and Erica Baxter

James Packer and Lawrence Ho

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
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 apologizing 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 $3 billion.

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

James Packer officially opened City of Dreams, Macau, in June 2009

Websites

City of Dreams

Melco Crown Entertainment

Altira Macau

Publishing and Broadcasting Limited

Australian Consolidated Press

Crown Casino

Burswood Casino