He may no longer be Crown Resorts’ largest shareholder following US private equity giant Blackstone’s AU$8.9 billion (US$6.5 billion) takeover last year, but James Packer still carries plenty of clout as Australia’s 17th richest man.
The Forbes list of Australia’s 50 Richest 2023 was published Thursday, with Packer among two notable gaming industry figures to rank high on the list with an estimated personal fortune of US$2.8 billion.
This does, however, represent a significant fall from 2019 – the last time Forbes published the Aussie list – when Packer ranked 9th with US$3.6 billion. He had ranked as high as sixth in 2016, while his fortune peaked in 2014 at US$6.5 billion.
Sitting not too far behind Packer in 23rd and with a US$2.2 billion fortune is Len Ainsworth, the founder of global gaming giant Aristocrat, and his family. Now aged 99, Ainsworth, who also founded Ainsworth Game Technology, has split his substantial shareholding in Aristocrat between his sons and ex-wife but remains entitled to some of those proceeds should they sell. He previously held a stake in Austrian giant Novomatic which he also sold off five years ago.
His stocks have certainly risen in recent years: Ainsworth ranked in 42nd place in the 2019 list with a fortune said to be less than US$1 billion.
Mining continues to be the big earner for Australians, with Hancock Prospecting Executive Chairman Gina Rinehart again topping Forbes’ Australia’s 50 Richest list in 2023 at US$30.6 billion, ahead of Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest with US$21.7 billion.
“The Australian economy benefited from the country’s post-pandemic reopening but in the past year inflation rocketed to 7.8%, the highest in three decades,” Forbes said of this year’s list.
“The rise was largely driven by higher prices of new homes, increased costs of transport and long-deferred holidays.
“The combined wealth of the country’s 50 richest swelled to US$213 billion, a hefty 70% jump from 2019 when we last published the list.”
See the full list here.
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