Kerry Packer       By Chloe and Dael.

Kerry Packer is Australia's most richest man. His wealth is estimated in the billions of dollars. It is his media industry that has made him both wealthy and very powerful. Kerry Packer is the owner of the Channel Nine Hoyts cinema, Women's Day, a part of Foxtel (pay TV) and owns 60% of all magazines sold in Australia. 
The magazine industry was set up by Kerry's father, Sir Frank Packer, in 1933. It was very successful and it allowed Sir Frank to make the business even bigger, beginning with newspapers like Sydney's Daily Telegraph. Sir Frank was a hard worker and a hard father. Kerry Packer's life was a very lonely and disrupted one because of it. Kerry Packer was sent to boarding school at the age of 5 and caught a serious illness called Polio a year later. In the 1940's it could kill or leave a child crippled, unlike today. Because of his illness, Kerry spent 9 months in a hospital attached to a respirator, which helped him to breath. He returned to boarding school at the age of 9. 

Photos taken courtesy The Age newspaper.

Kerry Packer finished school when he was 19 and went to work with his father in the newspaper industry. They had a very difficult relationship but Kerry admired his father and realised that he was a lot like him. In 1977, Kerry wanted special rights to the Sheffield and Test cricket but was denied. So he made up his own team with the best players. He then got his way in 1979, after years of hard work and arguing. Packer is very good at  knowing when to buy and when to sell. In 1987 he sold his two Channel Nine TV Stations to business man Alan Bond for one billion dollars. Three years later, Kerry bought the TV stations back again for 250 million dollars. Today Kerry leaves most of the running of his business to others.
Kerry loves playing Polo and he spends three months of every year in England, playing the game and spending millions of dollars on horses, stables and players for his own team. In 1990 he suffered a heart attack while playing Polo and was dead for six minutes until doctors revived him. He now enjoys many hobbies, while his success keeps growing and so does his empire.