Packer quits family business

Australian tycoon James Packer has quit his family firm Consolidated Press Holdings as he recovers from mental health issues, a spokesperson said on Monday, months after he stepped down from gaming empire Crown Resorts.

Packer’s departure from his private investment vehicle is the latest step by one of Australia’s richest people – who has previously spoken about his battles with depression – to walk away from his business commitments.

“Mr Packer has stepped off the CPH board as he continues his recovery from illness,” a spokesperson for the firm said in a brief statement.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said Packer resigned from the board on June 27, with the notice confirmed to the corporate regulator on Friday.

Packer, 50, son of the publishing and gaming mogul Kerry Packer, abruptly departed Crown in March, citing mental health issues.

CPH is Crown’s largest shareholder.

With a personal fortune estimated at A$3.9bn (R39bn), Packer had long controlled the two companies built up by his family over three generations.

The decision comes after a series of turbulent business and personal struggles for Packer.

He had a high-profile engagement to US music diva Mariah Carey before the couple split in 2016.

Around the same time, 19 current and former Crown employees were held for 10 months in China on charges of illegally luring rich Chinese to gamble in Australia.

Packer checked himself into a US psychiatric hospital days after resigning from Crown’s board, the Sydney Morning Herald reported then.