Billionaire and former fiancé of Mariah Carey, James Packer, has resigned from the directorships of 22 companies in Australia over the past few weeks. He no longer is a board member of any company in his native country. Packer has nearly completely retreated from public business life. In March, he quit the board of Crown Resorts, citing mental health issues as the reason. He is the major shareholder of the casino company. At the time, a spokesman for Packer said that he would be stepping back from all commitments. It is believed that Packer was in treatment in the United States for depression and anxiety.
June 27thwas a particularly active day for Packer. He resigned from 20 companies that day. All in all, he's stepped back from 24 Australian company boards in 2018. Packer is one of the highest profile Australian businessmen. The 50-year-old is a household name, and, in fact, the Packer family has been a fixture in Australia's media industry for generations.
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Packer has had a number of battles with depression. Back in the early 2000s, after the collapse of One-Tel, he retreated from the limelight in the midst of a breakdown. He also had a depressive episode after his divorce from his first wife and another one during the global financial crisis.
Packer's father, Kerry, inherited the family media business from his father Frank in 1974. Kerry Packer built the company into a television and publishing empire. James Packer sold that company a decade ago and turned his focus to the casino business. He left Crown Resorts after his high profile split from Mariah Carey. A year later, he rejoined the business.
Packer remains a director of the parent company of his empire, which lists the Bahamas as its home. He has a net worth of $3.7 billion.
