James Packer resigns from Consolidated Press board

James Packer has resigned from the board of family company Consolidated Press Holdings amid mental health problems.

James Packer at the Crown AGM in Melbourne last October. Picture: Stuart McEvoy/The Australian.

Casino billionaire James Packer has resigned from the board of family company Consolidated Press Holdings amid mental health problems.

Company documents filed with the corporate regulator a fortnight ago show that Mr Packer quit as a director on June 8. A spokesman for CPH also confirmed the resignation, telling The Australian “Mr Packer has stepped off the CPH board as he continues his recovery.”

The move followed his decision to quit the board of his casino company, Crown, in late March, because he was “suffering from mental health issues”.

Mr Packer also flagged at the time that he was reducing his work commitments.

At the time, Crown executive chairman John Alexander said the company “appreciated James’ contribution to the board and respect his decision to step down from his role as director at this time”.

The resignations followed a torrid three years for Mr Packer, during which he has renegotiated a financial settlement with his sister Gretel, was interviewed by Australian Federal Police as a witness to an alleged bribery scandal involving Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and seen Crown staff arrested in China.

He was also involved in a whirlwind romance with singer Mariah Carey.

The key asset of CPH is 316 million shares in Crown Resorts, representing a 46.1 per cent stake in the Casino operator. It also has property and other investments.

When The Weekend Australian Magazine visited Mr Packer last October at Ellerstina, his polo ranch an hour’s drive out of Buenos Aires in Argentina, the billionaire talked of a simpler life after some hectic years where he rubbed shoulders in Hollywood with the likes of Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt.

“I have always been shy. I have never liked the publicity — I get more publicity than anyone and have for 20 years. Most of it is negative. And you get gun-shy of getting hit,” he told The Weekend Australian Magazine at the time.

The billionaire, who told the magazine that the past four or five years had been tumultuous, acknowledged in October that he had lost friends, put on weight and, for the past year, become a recluse.

Mr Packer has long made headlines for personal dramas and in May 2014 he was involved in a fight with then Nine Entertainment boss David Gyngell outside Mr Packer’s Bondi home. The two were long-time friends, who had known each other since school and acted as best men at each other’s weddings.

He also said during that wideranging interview in October that two years ago he was “terrified” because of the debt levels at his private investment vehicle and Crown Resorts, while he was also trying to finalise a settlement with his sister Gretel, who wanted to crystallise some of the wealth she was left in their late father’s estate.

Mr Packer’s casino empire, Crown Resorts, surprised the market in December with news of several transactions underway to reduce its exposure to international assets and non-casino interests. The $700 million planned asset sales include its Las Vegas property and also two floors of its Sydney project to Mr Packer for his future Australian home.

Mr Packer had long held ambitions for a ­successful Las Vegas project and in 2014 Crown bought that land, which was next to a casino owned by Steve Wynn.

The cost-cutting drive came after the company paid a heavy price following the arrests in 2016 of its staff in China — a move that hit its lucrative VIP business. It also exited its Macau interests after the China arrests.