James Packer is currently Australia's richest boss
IN PHOTO: Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd co-Chairman James Packer (R) gestures while co-Chairman and CEO Lawrence Ho looks on during a news conference and grand opening of the City of Dreams in Manila February 2, 2015. Macau's Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd is not eager to include South Korea in its resort-casino portfolio and will instead focus on ramping up operations at its newly opened City of Dreams Manila project, a top company official said on Monday. While Melco Crown finds South Korea an interesting gaming market, areas like Incheon cannot guarantee a daily traffic of 30,000 visitors, a key requirement to make an integrated casino-resort project viable, Ho told reporters in Manila where he led the formal opening of the over $1 billion City of Dreams. Reuters/Romeo Ranoco

James Douglas Packer leads a pack of BRW Rich Bosses List in 2015. He was last year's BRW's 3rd richest Australian with assessed net worth value of $7.19 billion as of January 2014, according to BRW magazine. Included in this year's list are eight bosses from seven companies registered with Australian Securities Exchange in the last 18 months.

Grandson of media proprietor Frank Packer and son of late media mogul Kerry Packer, 47-year-old James acquired by inheritance control of Consolidated Press Holdings Limited, a family company that manages investments in Ratpac Entertainment, Crown Resorts and Zhoapin Pty Ltd. But his share alone in Crown stock this year already gave him $4.83 billion worth of fortune, which is almost twice as much as the second placer, David Teoh whose shareholding in entirety is valued at $2.73 billion.

Teoh, the executive chairman of TPG Telecom, enjoyed an upsurge by 68 percent of its stocks. A level after him is Kerr Neilson, chief executive officer of Platinum Asset Management, a fund manager specialising in international equities investments.

Landing at fourth is News Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch, who held the first rank last year with his then-$12.61 billion fortune share. This year’s wealth only amounted to $1.64 billion.

BRW reports the downgrade was due to the alteration on the nature of his Australian listed assets — his 21st Century Fox Incorporated company was excluded from Australian Security Exchange in 2014. Murdoch owns vast shares in that mass media company.

Fifth in line is Executive Chairman Kerry Stokes from Seven Group Holdings with his crisp $1.48 billion shares. BRW observes that while there are several big names in the list, the enumeration is made even more dramatic because of the inclusion of big bosses with eight of them being the leader of the latest initial public offerings headed by Ian Robinson, executive chairman for Beacon Lighting.

The Bosses List also features the richest female leaders such as Chief Executive Officer Maxine Horne of Vita Group which reaped $89 million worth of shares. Horne is currently at #33 in the list.

The Rich Boss List is measured from market capitalisation as listed on ASE. To qualify, the executives must be hands-on with everyday execution of tasks.

For comments or feedback on the article, contact the writer at kizmet@ymail.com.

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