Editing Kerry Packer (section)

==Business==
Packer, through his family company Consolidated Press Holdings, was the major shareholder with a 37% holding in [[Publishing and Broadcasting Limited]] (PBL).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Melco/PBL Joint Venture acquires remaining 30% of Park Hyatt Project in Macau|url=https://www.melco-group.com/press/PRA_20050322.pdf}}</ref> Until Packer's death PBL owned the [[Nine Network|Nine television network]], and [[Are Media#Australian Consolidated Press|Australian Consolidated Press]] which produces many of Australia's top-selling magazines. He was involved in a number of other gambling and tourism ventures, notably [[Crown Melbourne|Crown Casino]] in Melbourne.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kerry Packer Bio|url=https://www.gamblingsites.org/biographies/kerry-packer/}}</ref> The [[Nine Network]] and [[Australian Consolidated Press]] businesses have since been divested to [[PBL Media]].

Packer was widely respected in business circles, courted by politicians on both sides, and was widely regarded as one of the most astute businessmen of his time, despite having been a poor student.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2005-12-27|title=A pioneer in the realm of television|url=https://www.smh.com.au/business/a-pioneer-in-the-realm-of-television-20051227-gdmoyf.html|access-date=2021-08-14|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|language=en}}</ref>

Although Packer's reputation as an astute businessman was legendary and he made some good investments, he was by no means a [[self-made man]]—his grandfather, [[Robert Clyde Packer]], and his father, Sir Frank Packer, had built up the media empire and its related holdings over many decades. As pointed out by internet news outlet [[Crikey]], if $100 million had been invested in the Australian sharemarket in September 1974 through a balanced portfolio of the top 200 companies, that portfolio would be worth a lot more than $6.9 billion in December 2005, possibly as much as $11 billion.<ref>"How good a businessman was Packer", Crikey, 9 January 2006 http://www.crikey.com.au/articles/2006/01/09-1554-6139.htm {{dead link|date=October 2013}}</ref>

Packer controlled [[Nine Network]] and ''[[Nine's Wide World of Sports]]'' in the 1980s, and "famously sold the network to [[Alan Bond]] and then bought it back three years later for less than a quarter of the price." Writes the ''Sydney Morning Herald'', "Packer's decision to sell Nine to Bond in 1987 for $1.2 billion - before buying back the network in 1990 for $250 million - is legendary in Australian television."<ref name="SMHrying">Barrett, Chris (13 April 2018), [https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/no-crying-in-television-packer-would-be-pragmatic-about-switch-20180413-p4z9fr.html "'No crying in television': Packer would be pragmatic about switch"], ''The Sydney Morning Herald''.</ref>

Moreover, Packer was not the first choice to take over the running of the family's business empire—his father had intended that Kerry's elder brother, Clyde Packer, would take over the company, but Clyde fell out with his father in the early 1970s and left Australia permanently.

Kerry Packer's independent business life began after his father's death in 1974 when he inherited control of the family's controlling share in PBL, valued at {{A$|100&nbsp;million}}. Further, his principal Australian investments in television and casinos were highly protected from competition by government regulation which Packer and his employees worked very hard to have maintained.

The Packer family's business reputation suffered a blow following the 2001 collapse of [[One.Tel]], a telephone company in which his son, [[James Packer|James]], had invested.

Kerry Packer was also one of Australia's largest landholders.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2005-12-27|title=Australia's richest man, Kerry Packer, dies at 68|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/27/world/asia/australias-richest-man-kerry-packer-dies-at-68.html|access-date=2021-08-14|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In 2003, a deposit of [[ruby|rubies]] was discovered on one of his properties.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2005-03-06|title=How Kerry Packer unearthed $30 million|url=https://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/how-kerry-packer-unearthed-30-million-20050306-gdzqb3.html|access-date=2021-08-14|website=The Age|language=en}}</ref>

The Packer media empire included magazines, television networks, telecommunications, petrochemicals, heavy engineering, a 75% stake in the [[Perisher Blue]] ski resort, diamond exploration, coal mines and property, a share in the Foxtel cable TV network, and investments in the lucrative casino business in Australia and overseas.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2006-01-05|title=The great inheritor|newspaper=The Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/business/2006/01/05/the-great-inheritor|access-date=2021-08-14|issn=0013-0613}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=CNN.com - Media mogul Kerry Packer dies - Dec 27, 2005|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/12/26/obit.packer/|access-date=2021-08-14|website=CNN}}</ref>