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Australia’s cricketers donned black armbands for the second day of the Test against South Africa this morning to pay tribute to Kerry Packer, the media baron who transformed their sport. Australia’s richest man passed away overnight in Sydney at the age of 68. He had built a multi-billion dollar broadcasting, publishing and gambling empire but had suffered from ill health for more than a decade. Packer cheated death in 1990 when his heart stopped for several minutes after he suffered a heart attack on the polo field – he boasted later that he had “been to the other side and there was nothing there”. He had a transplant in 2000 after his personal helicopter pilot offered to donate one of his kidneys. The tycoon’s own Channel Nine television station reported today that he had passed away peacefully at home with his family at his bedside. Tributes flooded in today from the worlds of cricket, business and politics. Rupert Murdoch, the News Corporation chairman, described Mr Packer as a “lifelong friend and tough competitor”. “He was the most successful businessman of our generation,” Mr Murdoch said. "As a broadcaster, he had an uncanny knack of knowing what people across the country were thinking and this finely-tuned antenna made him the best broadcaster this country has seen." John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister, said: "He was 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." Packer inherited the media empire founded by his grandfather, Robert, and developed by his father, Sir Frank, a legendary newspaperman who launched the Australian Women’s Weekly magazine in 1933. The only part of the business he was not trained in was as a reporter – he once called himself “academically stupid” – but there was no doubting his skill in the boardroom. The success of the magazine financed further acquisitions and became the cornerstone of what became Publishing and Broadcasting (PBL), which is listed on the Australian stock exchange and of which Packer still owned a 30-per cent share. His only son, James, is expected to take over the sprawling empire, which includes the Nine network, magazines, pay-television and internet ventures as well as petrochemicals, heavy engineering, ski resorts, rural properties, diamond exploration and coalmines. James Packer has been executive chairman of PBL since 1998. Packer was listed by Forbes magazine this year as the 94th richest man in the world with a £2.8 billion fortune. The tycoon will be best remembered for his decision to take on Australian cricketing authorities in 1977 after being refused the chance to bid for television rights. In one of the most audacious sports coups in history, Packer secretly signed up Tony Greig, the England captain, and his Australian counterpart, Greg Chappell, as well as many other highly regarded players, and then went on to field his own teams in his own stadiums. The move convulsed the sporting establishment and ultimately allowed him to wrest television rights to the game from the Australian Cricket Board. His World Series venture eventually came to a halt after the game’s authorities persuaded enough top players to return to the fold, but only after the mould had been broken and cricket had been put on a path towards greater popularity and success. Early this morning the Australian and South African teams observed a minute’s silence before the start of play in the second Test to mark Packer’s passing. Creagh O’Connor, the head of the game’s governing body in Australia, paid a glowing tribute. “Kerry Packer stood alongside the late Sir Donald Bradman as one of the giants who have influenced the shape of Australian cricket,” he said. “The so-called Packer Revolution of the 1970s has left a lasting legacy in the way the game is played, administered and presented to the public. One-day cricket is now an international phenomenon as a result of Packer.” Richie Benaud, the former Australia captain who is Channel Nine’s main commentator, added: "He knew that the players were being in a sense financially downtrodden and it was his job to put it right, and put it right he did.” A huge man with an irreverent personality, Packer was feared and respected by his staff, politicians and other businessmen. He enjoyed the company of prime ministers and princes, though he increasingly shunned the limelight as his health deteriorated. He was his nation’s biggest punter, plunging millions on favoured racehorses or on casino tables around the world. As a dealmaker his timing was always perfect. In 1987 he sold his television network to the Western Australian businessman Alan Bond for a billion Australian dollars, only to buy it back several years later for 200 million. In the same year he fortuitously sold out of the stock market only weeks before the famous Black Friday crash in October. "You only get one Alan Bond in your lifetime," he said after that deal. "And I've had mine." The low point of his public life came in the early 1980s, when an official inquiry was investigating the Australian drugs trade. Packer was named as a drugs kingpin known as "the Goanna", but he vehemently denied the allegations and was formally cleared of any wrongdoing in 1987, although the episode reinforced his determination to avoid the spotlight. |