Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer, diagnosed dyslexic, self-proclaimed "academically stupid" student, went to work for his father's media business in 1956 at the age of 19. This coincided with Consolidated Press winning a Sydney television licence and selling Woman's Day to Fairfax.
After spending a year in the US working in television, and a stint at TCN in Sydney, Packer received his first major appointment within Australian Consolidated Press - in September 1961, he was named advertising manager of ACP's new publication, Everybody's. Launched earlier that year, and incorporating Weekend and the Australian Woman's Mirror, one of Packer's first media comments - to AdNews' forerunner Newspaper News - was to claim advertiser support for the magazine was excellent. Media agency pioneer Dennis Merchant first met Packer at this time and remembers someone who valued loyalty in himself and repaid it in others. "Kerry was always very direct. He had a great respect for loyalty. It was always a two-way street with loyalty. As a guy in that position, he could always use that when he believed one of his supporters was being threatened," Merchant says. In January 1965, Packer was appointed advertising manager of the Sunday Telegraph, a newspaper launched in 1939 by his father, Sir Frank Packer. Kerry Packer was later to be instrumental in pushing the sale of the paper, along with the Daily Telegraph, to News Limited in the early '70s. By October 1965, at the age of 28, Packer had risen to the position of advertising director of all ACP publications. After the breakup of his marriage and an argument with his father in 1972, Kerry's older brother Clyde renounced any interest in corporate affairs and moved to California, later selling his stake in Consolidated Press Holdings to his sibling for $4 million. When Sir Frank died in 1974, the 37-year-old Kerry succeeded him, just as a 38-year-old James Packer has succeeded his father. Ita Buttrose launched Cleo with Kerry Packer in 1972 and says the younger Packer had a different style to his father and made some significant changes following his ascendancy. "When he took over after Sir Frank died he modernised the way we did things at Consolidated Press," she says. "For instance, [under Sir Frank] editors were never given the figures, we never had the budget, so you didn't know if you were making a profit. This [change] proved invaluable once I got to the [The Australian Women's] Weekly: I could change the colour, produce more mono; I was able to bring it in and make money." Buttrose claims the launch of Cleo was Packer's first success. "Sir Frank just didn't understand the new progressive woman and he said to Kerry: 'You look after it, it's your baby.' I remember Sir Frank was in Hong Kong on holiday when we launched Cleo and he sent me a telegram: 'Good luck with your venture. I think you'll need it.' But, of course, it was a great success from day one." Peter Miller, now managing director of AdStream, worked on The Bulletin before becoming ACP Magazines advertising manager in 1992. "Kerry had a big interest in The Bulletin because he used to work on it," says Miller, who recounts a meeting he attended with former Consolidated Press chief executive Al "Chainsaw" Dunlap, Packer and the editor and publisher of The Bulletin. "Al [Dunlap] was perhaps the most unattractive person I have ever met and he was sitting there grilling me, asking me why The Bulletin was not performing at its best. I gave him an honest answer - The Bulletin was selling itself as something it really wasn't and that reflected with the advertisers. I just remember Kerry leaned across the table and said straight to Al: 'See, I told you so - I couldn't even sell an ad in the fucking Bulletin.'" Geoff Paxman was advertising director at ACP Magazines from 1975 until the mid-'80s and remembers a generous man. "Mr. Packer was an excellent boss. He was full of dignity, a very clear man and certainly full of strength. You always knew where you were with Kerry and it's a very sad loss. He was an extraordinarily generous man in many ways, not just as a boss but especially when it came to personal matters within our families," Paxman says. This odd mix of generosity and ferocity is recounted by everyone that knew him. Says Peter Miller: "I've been reading many things about Kerry and his attitude and most of it is true. He had the ability to be quick, loud, brutal and he loved an argument - but at the same time he was really genuine, exciting and it was a real thrill-a-minute working with him. "People have said he was really ruthless but I've never seen anyone who isn't ruthless when it comes to business." Graham Lawrence, commercial director of Active International, was an ACP veteran, starting on The Bulletin as an ad manager in 1976 and rising to group advertising sales director, leaving the company in 1991. When Lawrence joined ACP, it had four magazines in its portfolio. When he left there were close to 100. He says Packer was highly involved in the business, possessing a great logical mind, which he used to test and "monster" his staff. His power and riches did, however, bring out the worst in people. "I saw and heard, during my time, people within and without the organisation, fawn, weasel, lie, stab colleagues in the back, prostitute themselves, offer unasked-for business advantages, in return for being able to grovel at the king's table and grab some crumbs," Lawrence says. "KP didn't corrupt them - it was their choice and mostly their initiative. Many of those in these later years who put themselves up as leaders in business and government, moral spokespeople, friends of KP, are in the above categories. I expect KP is amused at the outpourings and claims wherever he is." Packer's legendary generosity is fuelled by stories of personal intervention but also, of course, helped by his famously low personal and corporate tax returns. "He wasn't a saint but he certainly had a very generous streak," Buttrose says. "And it is like everyone said: he didn't want everyone to know about it, it was something he just did." Buttrose has many stories of Packer's often impulsive generosity, including tales of long-term support for sick staff. "There was a staff member in London whose wife needed an operation and couldn't afford it and, when Kerry heard about it, he paid for that. There was another woman, going through a divorce, who couldn't afford a loan. Once she told him about it, Kerry came to the rescue. "There were many, many stories like this about Kerry. He was a very, very kind man in this regard." According to those who knew him, Packer bucked the common perception of a bullying, meddling boss. Despite well-documented instances of intervention in his various media outlets, he knew when to delegate. Dennis Merchant says Packer was happy to trust his lieutenants. "One thing I can say about Kerry is that when it came to media negotiations, he left it to the people underneath him. He gave his people - like the Sam Chisholm's of the world - total authority and he would never second-guess them." Buttrose says Packer allowed his editors to run their own magazines. "There was a lot of speculation in the media that he intruded, but he didn't. He trusted his editors and the proviso was that if I ever needed to talk to him about anything the door was always open," she says. Geoffrey Cousins, former chairman of George Patterson Bates, ex-CEO of Optus and later to sit on the ACP board, says Packer was far from the average high-flying corporate executive. He was instinctive and impatient. "He wasn't the sort to spend three months looking at every side of an issue - he made his mind up quickly and got on with it. "Kerry had his moments - sometimes he could be very difficult with other people, but not with me. My memories of him are very positive ones."
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