Packer pocketing company profits
JAMES Packer is eating into his private company’s savings by paying himself hundreds of millions of dollars more than the profit the business has been making.
The money Mr Packer, 50, is pocketing from Consolidated Press Holdings comes as the tycoon faces reported demands for a multimillion-dollar payoff from ex-fiancee Mariah Carey. The couple split in October 2016 after dating for 18 months. The pop diva reportedly asked for a $50 million settlement. CPH’s latest accounts reveal Mr Packer paid himself a dividend of $186 million in 2016-17, even though the com- pany made a bottom line profit of $73 million.
In the previous financial year, Mr Packer paid himself dividends of $252 million – four times the company’s net income of $64 million.
Mr Packer reportedly intends to ask Ms Carey to return the $12.7 million engagement ring he gave her.
The amounts Mr Packer is taking from CPH shows a seismic shift in the way he runs his private company.
In the eight prior financial years to 2015-16, his dividend was less than what the company earned. Now he is paying himself more than company profits by dipping into CPH’s savings – its retained earnings.
The latest accounts show CPH still holds nearly $4.2 billion in retained earnings.