Mariah eyes Packer’s handsome pay
JAMES Packer is eating into his private company’s savings by paying himself up to hundreds of millions of dollars more than the profit the business has been making.
The latest accounts from Consolidated Press Holdings reveal Mr Packer paid himself a dividend of
$186 million in 2016-17, even though the company made a bottom line profit of
$73 million.
In the previous financial year, the 50-year-old tycoon paid himself dividends of $252 million – four times the company’s net income of $64 million.
It’s understood Mr Packer boosted his payouts for two reasons: CPH has lowered its debt and it got a windfall from Crown Resorts.
The amounts Mr Packer is taking from CPH show 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.
Curtin University accounting expert Lee Smales said Mr Packer could “pretty much do as he pleases – including making a pay-off to Mariah Carey”.
Mr Packer faces reported demands for a multi-milliondollar pay-off from the entertainer.
The couple split in October 2016 after dating for 18 months. She reportedly asked for a $50-million settlement.