4 Corners ABC: James Packer

Tonight: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2009/s2708733.htm

Will the Son Also Rise
Reporter: Paul Barry

Broadcast: 12/10/2009

James Packer had big shoes to fill but he had a plan to make himself more successful than his father. Reporter Paul Barry details how James Packer sold his media holdings and invested the money in casinos. We hear from the people who knew James and his father. They describe the affection and the competition between the two and we hear about the high stake deals that made and then lost James Packer a fortune.
 
PBL's dowhill run started when Kerry was sick in hospital and left him in charge.
He just was'nt capable of making decisions and running PBL or CPH,or a chicken shed imo.
He has a constant resentment of everybody and treats most people like crap.
He always went to work with a chip on his shoulder as if he inherited hell.
Not that Kerry was a quietly spoken or a diplomat, but was at least respected (and feared) after 40 yrs of building an empire.
The worst thing he done was sack Nick Falloon who was PBL's best asset aside Kerry who was in hospital at the time.
Nick (rightly) did'nt agree with just about anything James did because he knew better.
So James got rid of him when the ole uncle Kez was'nt there.
Even when James found his own 'Alan Bond" to buy out the media assets, he still lost his A$$.
As for Yates, he was good at sucking up to the boos.

The adventures of Level 3...
 
I reckon it's too premature to judge James.


In the early 70's when Frank had a ding-dong with his eldest son Clive, where Clive told the old man to stick his money and decided to take off to the US and never come back, the idiot son Kerry was asked to step up to the plate, Frank (and everyone else in Oz) thought Frank was a legend / giant and Kerry was a wet behind the ears toolbag.


It only took 5 or 6 years for him to find his feet before Kerry was hitting big home runs. Give James 6 years as well, to the end of 2011, and you might see a turnaround. Everyone is calling him not a patch on his old man, but then that is exactly what they were saying about Kerry when he first took over from Frank.


Frank was apparently powerful cos he could pick up the phone, call the PM and demand to have an audience within 30 minutes in the PM's office. Kerry turned the tables and was able to have the PM on a string, and able to demand the PM be in HIS office within half an hour.


Apparently James was losing 8K per minute there for a good while. Who knows, he might be making 10K per minute very soon.


Frank's father handed Frank about 1.5M pounds in '31. Nothing to 1.5M - factor of infinity.
Frank handed Kerry about $ 470M in '74. 3M up to 470M - factor of 156.
Kerry handed James about 6B in '05. 470M up to 6M - factor of 12.7

Different scales come into play (restrictions in populations etc).


If James could triple the net worth under his stewardship during his lifetime, he'll be doing well......but I suspect he'll need to go overseas to achieve that. Oz is just too small for those numbers.
 
It only took 5 or 6 years for him to find his feet before Kerry was hitting big home runs. Give James 6 years as well, to the end of 2011, and you might see a turnaround. Everyone is calling him not a patch on his old man, but then that is exactly what they were saying about Kerry when he first took over from Frank.
I was referring to the year 2000 when he got rid of the best talent.
It was James calling those shots in 2000, not Kerry, according to my lvl 3 contacts at the time.
Kerry was still active, but nowhere near as much as he was before his near death experience.
We see these people on the ch 9 ACA shows whining about their bosses and how offended they were by the horrible words a boss should never use, but strangely enough nobody ever made mention of how KP or James would address not only their staff, but almost anyone around them.
Kerry turned the tables and was able to have the PM on a string, and able to demand the PM be in HIS office within half an hour.
Not sure about the 30mins, but Little Johnny visited the Park St office 3 or 4 times in one year, that I know of.
Kerry new the basic rule of waiting for someone to go broke (or close enuff), then buy then out.
If James could triple the net worth under his stewardship during his lifetime, he'll be doing well......but I suspect he'll need to go overseas to achieve that. Oz is just too small for those numbers.

He's still betting on casinos at the wrong time imo, but ojnly time will tell.
 
If a working class Englishman saw a bloke drive past in a Rolls-Royce, he'd say to himself "Come the social revolution and we'll take that away from you, mate". Whereas if his American counterpart saw a bloke drive past in a Cadillac he'd say "One day I'm going to own one of those". To my way of thinking the first attitude is wrong. The latter is right.. Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer..

Born: December 17, 1937
Died: December 26, 2005
 
There's one thing about James Packer that intrigues me. Is he a Scientologist, and if so, why?

I really try to be very tolerant of people's religious beliefs, but I don't understand how people who appear "normal" can believe in Scientology's teachings and keep a straight face. Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Kirstie Alley etc - all appear quite mentally together and rational when interviewed, and their allegiance to this belief system baffles me enough... but James Packer - could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard that!
 
There's one thing about James Packer that intrigues me. Is he a Scientologist, and if so, why?

I really try to be very tolerant of people's religious beliefs, but I don't understand how people who appear "normal" can believe in Scientology's teachings and keep a straight face. Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Kirstie Alley etc - all appear quite mentally together and rational when interviewed, and their allegiance to this belief system baffles me enough... but James Packer - could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard that!

Hit the nail on the head here. I was completely shocked too and lost all respect for james after that.

In my view it certainly shows mental weakness.
 
Scientology is no more crazy than some of the beliefs that other religions hold. I was in a business meeting once when a guy made a factual reference to how some guy took three steps across a country or something... can't recall the exact statement but it blew me away at the time.
 
I think Scientology is crazy as well. Don't know why so many high profile people go for it.

But so is that story about a virgin who was impregnated by a spirit and bore a son. Then the son performed miracles, was killed and came back to life ...yada yada.

Not to mention some bizarre branches of that particular religion.

I think they're all a bit crazy.
 
There's no doubt that some "conventional" religions have beliefs that are quite supernatural/irrational if taken literally. But it seems to me that the core of most religions is belief in a higher power, striving for a behavioural ideal, treating others as you'd like to be treated, etc, and I believe it's this that appeals most. (And I agree that you can have all that without having any religion, too.) In my experience, many - even most - adherents consider wine turning into blood etc as symbolic, or analogous, not as literal truth.

But the significant difference, to my thinking, is that there doesn't even seem to be a reasonable core in Scientology. From the get-go, it's about e-meters, aliens, and stuff like that! So what is it about Scientology that attracts people?
 
.

In my view it certainly shows mental weakness.
His only mistake was once he opened the door to get-rich-artists and overstretched o-s developers,then got hammered with "GFC",like several i know who now are broke and on the dole and in the gutter,but he is still a very powerfull man,i know what i can make per hour:rolleyes:,what he makes per second day in day out is anyones guess..imho..willair..
 
Oz:
There's one thing about James Packer that intrigues me. Is he a Scientologist, and if so, why?

I really try to be very tolerant of people's religious beliefs, but I don't understand how people who appear "normal" can believe in Scientology's teachings and keep a straight face. Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Kirstie Alley etc - all appear quite mentally together and rational when interviewed, and their allegiance to this belief system baffles me enough... but James Packer - could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard that!

I understand where you are coming from. I think....maybe I have had this expectation of the Packers, Kerry and James...the whole image of them as business/wealth creator people and I have tended to overlook the most important thing of which is that they are human.

No more, no less than flesh and blood, prone to cardiac health problems, health problems full stop, getting by in life with the emotional/mental skills they have, perhaps expecting them to be a little more superhuman than others, but they are human with the complete foibles that we can manifest in our own lives.

I actually watched the show and felt a huge twinge of sadness that (parts of) their lives were being hung out on national media and I was interested and curious to watch it intently.

Maybe James hit a spot in his life where if he wasn't who he was ....may have turned to other stuff than a friend in Tom Cruise and Scientology. I think he had just been through the onetel thing, was barely through that and their marriage was over...that's pretty tough going for anyone, let alone for it to be played out through the media...

DANIEL PETRE: I think the press enjoyed going after James and he was pretty much left alone too. His father didn't back him. A number of his supposed friends stepped away from him and he was left, left alone to live with the personal failure and then the public humiliation
.

PAUL BARRY: And how hard did he take that?

DANIEL PETRE: Very hard, it took it very, very hard. It was, it was something that I think he wasn't prepared for. I don't think he'd ever had that degree of public humiliation. I don't think anyone's had.

In that sense was he was trying to build himself and build a business portfolio, and for your first major investment to go badly, it was incredibly hard on him. He was very, very damaged by that.

PAUL BARRY: James's marriage to Jodhi Meares broke up. He came close to a breakdown and sought solace in Scientology, a strange space age religion which judges down the years have condemned as a cult.

His friend Tom Cruise introduced him. And when Cruise received Scientology's top award in 2004, James was there applauding.

DANIEL PETRE: Scientology helped James. There's no question it helped him find a sense of strength and a sense of understanding that helped him.

PAUL BARRY: It's fairly crazy ah...

DANIEL PETRE: Yeah, it's written by a science fiction writer who believes a bunch of weird things. But if you take those away, ah yeah. There's some things about, you know, do the right thing by others, and there are a few basic fundamental humanist kind of constructs in it that seem quite reasonable if you can forget the bit about the spaceships arriving and that stuff.

PAUL BARRY: Do you think he's still ah involved in that? I mean do you.

DANIEL PETRE: I don't think as strongly as he was, no.

If you are perceived or perceiving yourself as a failure or failing at stuff, this is all being played out in media, your personal life is going through upheavel...that's pretty challenging, even with balls of steel. Or rubber or whatever they may be.

I think perhaps Tom Cruise was just trying to help a friend that just needed some support and probably (who knows?) Scientology had been a support to Tom and others at stages in their lives?? warts and all that any particular group? organisation, or spiritual group can offer. Sort of.

We can make our millions and billions and ride the ups and downs but bottom line is there is a good chance it will be played and aired through media (ask the actors and musicians!)...but we are very much human. Complex and prone to predictable unpredictability.
 
it seems anyone asscoiated with the TV show "Cheers" - core and peripheral - has become a scientologist.

i reckon you could do up a 3 degrees of scientology.

lets start yeah?

Kirstie Alley - starred in Cheers.
Kirstie Alley co-stars with John Travolta in "Look Who's Talking" 1989.
John Travolta now a Scientologist.

and backwards

Travolta stars opposite Dustin Hoffman in "Mad City".
Hoffman stars with Cruise in "Rain Man".
Cruise a Scientologist.

Woody Harrelson - starred in Cheers.
Woody Harrelson stars with Will Smith in "Seven Pounds"
Will Smith a Scientologist.

that's just three. funny, funny religion.
 
His only mistake was once he opened the door to get-rich-artists and overstretched o-s developers,then got hammered with "GFC"

From my understanding, his mistake was sacking all those who disagreed with his strategy for internet & gambling. Only the "yes" men remained, and the hangers on. He made those decisions in 99/00 and later paid for them.
This I deducted from people I know that worked at PBL head office att.
He then got his "A Bond" with the 5 Bil buy out, and burned it all in the same industry.
When did KP ever risk the bulk of his assets at the end a a huge boom?
He did make a few mistakes, but he rarely bought overpriced assets.
He held his empire tight and waited for opportunities, ie buying from others doing what James did.

---

OO spare a thought for those countless people who's lives and fictional stories about them were published in the PBL media channels.
 
His only mistake was once he opened the door to get-rich-artists and overstretched o-s developers,then got hammered with "GFC",like several i know who now are broke and on the dole and in the gutter,but he is still a very powerfull man,i know what i can make per hour:rolleyes:,what he makes per second day in day out is anyones guess..imho..willair..

I think there is more to it than that myself. I'm not saying the guy is an idiot. He is not doubt clever but he hardly has his old mans skills.

Yes you are correct I would gladly swap assets with him :)
 
From my understanding, his mistake was sacking all those who disagreed with his strategy for internet & gambling. Only the "yes" men remained, and the hangers on. He made those decisions in 99/00 and later paid for them.
This I deducted from people I know that worked at PBL head office att.
He then got his "A Bond" with the 5 Bil buy out, and burned it all in the same industry.
When did KP ever risk the bulk of his assets at the end a a huge boom?
He did make a few mistakes, but he rarely bought overpriced assets.
He held his empire tight and waited for opportunities, ie buying from others doing what James did.

---

OO spare a thought for those countless people who's lives and fictional stories about them were published in the PBL media channels.
If you study the way his father worked then you are right,he alone understood the mechanics of a boom,but he also was very good a picking a slump,that's what James has yet to understand the way free economies
work..imho..willair..
 
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