Inside Asian Gaming

D uring his lifetime, Kerry Packer had a reputation of betting hundreds of thousands of dollars ona singlehandof blackjackor a toss of the dice at a craps game. In a classic case of the apple not falling far from the tree, James Packer has proven himself no less a risk-taker than his illustrious father. Indeed, if anything, the son has raised the stakes—wagering the future wellbeing of Publishing & Broadcast- ing Limited (PBL), the multimillion dollar con- glomerate bequeathed to him upon his fa- ther’s death two years ago, on a risky business strategy that emphasizes growth through in- ternational casino resort expansion. To accomplish this goal, James, 39, has restructured PBL into separate gaming and communications businesses, and is in the process of selling off some of the company’s most prized possessions, including portions of the lucrative Nine Network—Australia’s largest commercial television system—in order to generate funds to invest in gaming projects. At the time of this divesture, the normally tight-lipped Packer said the move was made as “part of a broader reallocation of capital within PBL.” Packer’s ultimate goal: evolve PBL be- yond its Australia-based communications beginnings and into a gaming company that can play on the world stage.“He wants to be out of the media which he sees as being tra- ditional low growth business and he wants to be in the high growth area of gambling and the Internet,”media analyst Peter Cox of Cox Media told ABC News Online. Some claim the elder Packer would nev- er have considered such daunting moves. Make no mistake about it; PBL’s current focus on overseas gaming development is a radical departure from the primarily do- mestic diversified portfolio approach the company previously followed. Out of Australia Under James Packer, mighty PBL looks to expand its casino empire offshore 36