James Packer is a billionaire casino tycoon and a major shareholder of Crown Resorts Limited, which is one of Australia’s biggest resort and entertainment groups.
He inherited an empire valued at $5 billion after the death of his father, media mogul Kerry Packer in 2005. He is also famous for making many intelligent investments and intuitive business decisions as his influence on the Australian market allowed it to rival what we saw from casino sites in the USA.
His large wealth comes mostly from his work as director of Crown Resorts Limited and his company, Consolidated Press is Crown’s largest shareholder. In 2014 the company’s market capitalization was around $8 billion and in 2015 around $11 billion.
The Crown Resorts attract over 30 million visitors every year and feature casinos in Australia, London, and Macau. The company also has approval to establish more casinos in Sydney and Sri Lanka as the market expanded, potentially due to the success of the best US poker sites and popularity of real money poker tournaments which has sparked demand for more physical venues around the world.
Packer reached the post of Australia’s richest person three different times, in 2006, 2007, and 2009, with a net worth of $5.20 billion, $5.50 billion, and $3.10 billion, respectively. In other years he was also included in different lists of the richest people in the world.
While Packer’s wealth has fluctuated, he managed to remain one of Australia’s richest people. In 2008, he was the third-richest person in Australia with a total net worth of $5.30 billion and that happened again when he was ranked as Australia’s third-richest person in 2013 and 2014, with total assets of $6.0 billion and $6.60 billion, respectively.
Then later, in 2015 he was named the seventh-richest person in Australia with a total net worth of $4.70 billion.
Packer has also ventured into film production, besides his prestigious position at Crown Resorts Limited, and founded a film production company called RatPac Entertainment with director and producer Brett Ratner. Their first feature film, “Gravity” starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, was a huge success and grossed over $100 million within the first week.
Diversifying investments in different areas has been one of Packer’s most used strategies as he also made a lot of successful investments in other companies, a good example of that is the sale of shares of the Challenger Financial Group, the Sunland Group, and the Magellan Financial Group, all which helped him increase his net worth.
However, his assets are not limited to shares and investments. Packer owns houses in different parts of the world, including a beautiful and luxurious seven-bedroom mansion in Aspen, Colorado, which he bought in 2013 for more than $20 million. The mansion features a state-of-the-art kitchen, movie theater, bar, steam room, game room, and cozy library.
Back in 1995, he also bought a beachside bachelor pad in Bondi for only $2.25 million which is now worth over $20 million.
Packer is also known for his great love for private jets and luxurious boats. He sold his 52-meter Seahorse super yacht, which he bought in 2012, for an alleged price of $50 million. He also owns an 87-meter (287-foot) yacht worth around $80 million.
His private jet collection includes Swish private jets and a Bombardier Global Express XRS aircraft with 15 seats and nine berths priced at $100 million in 2014.
But his love of luxury cars is perhaps even more well-known publicly as he is a big fan of British sports cars and drives the iconic Aston Martin DB9, which was reportedly bought for $290,000. His car collection also includes a Ferrari 430 Spider and a Bentley Continental GT.
Packer also faced a lot of professional and personal challenges throughout the years. In 2015, he resigned as a director of Crown Resorts Limited citing mental health issues, and later returned to the company as a non-executive director in 2017. That did not last long and he resigned again in 2018 amid reports of personal issues.
He’s also been in the middle of several legal battles over the years and in 2016 he was sued by former business partner Matthew Tripp over disputes related to a sports betting venture and the case was settled out of court. In the same year, his engagement to R&B singer Mariah Carey ended after nine months.
Later in 2019, Packer faced even more trouble when Crown Resorts Limited was the target of allegations of money laundering and even links with organized crime. He was called to testify about the allegations, which resulted in many calls for him to sell his shares of the company, and as a result, he reduced his stake in Crown Resorts Limited from 46% to 37%.
In the last decades, Packer started his involvement with philanthropic work, which would result in many donations and funds being distributed around Australia and the world.
One notable contribution was giving the University of Sydney’s medical research center $30 million in 2014 to help build a new facility and fund important research.
In that same year, he promised to donate $200 million to several organizations over the following decade, with a focus on helping indigenous communities and the artistic world.
He was able to follow through with his word and in 2019 he donated over $4 million to help combat the terrible bushfires that swept through Australia. He has also helped and supported a lot of different charitable causes, from mental health initiatives to medical research.
His legacy as a philanthropist and businessman will be remembered for decades to come and despite facing professional challenges and personal issues, he was able to remain an influential figure in Australia’s business world and made several contributions to his country’s society and economy.
James Packer still has a lot to navigate and a lot of ups and downs to get through, but there isn’t a doubt that he will be able to remain fascinating people around the world as his success story serves to inspire aspiring entrepreneurs and investors and his philanthropic work is a great reminder of the importance of giving back and helping the community in order to make a real positive impact in the future.
