Packer Vacates Qantas Seat
By Glenda Korporaal, The Australian | May 19, 2007
James Packer will join Qantas chairman Margaret Jackson in leaving the airline's board, ending a directorship that marked his return to the corporate fold after the One.Tel collapse.
Ms Jackson reached out to Mr Packer in 2004 to offer a seat on one of the country's plum boards.
Qantas was the first board seat he took outside the companies associated with the family empire.
It was a public sign of support from the top end of town for the heir to the Packer fortune, who was still to face a lengthy court case over the One.tel demise.
A much more powerful Mr Packer, now running an expanding international gaming and media company, tendered his resignation from the Qantas board on May 18.
The news came as the Qantas board confirmed that Ms Jackson, 54, would be stepping down at the company's annual general meeting in November.
The board said Mr Packer, 39, would step down at the same time.
"James has been wanting to get off the Qantas board for some time because of his own huge commitments," a source said.
"He is travelling an enormous amount, he's about to get married ... Joining the Qantas board was a good idea at the time but his business has now become all-consuming for him."
Other sources said Mr Packer's departure was linked with that of Ms Jackson. "I don't think there is any secret that they are close and they respect each other," Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said.
Since joining the Qantas board, Mr Packer has taken over the family empire, following the death of his father at the end of 2005. He has set about a multi-billion-dollar strategy of expanding into the gaming and casino industry in Macau, Europe and North America.
He has also presided over his own successful private equity deal, which has released billions of dollars from his companies, set to be split into two separate businesses, media and gaming.
Ms Jackson said earlier that Mr Packer had "served the board with distinction and diligence".
Mr Packer is now executive chairman of Publishing and Broadcasting, executive chairman of Consolidated Press Holdings, non-executive chairman of SEEK Limited and a director of Challenger Financial Services Group.
He could have expected to be free of his Qantas board commitments by now, following the board's recommendation in December of the AU$11 billion bid by Airline Partners Australia. Instead, the bid's collapse has meant long hours of Qantas board meetings, mostly by phone.
Mr Packer will retain close links with Mr Dixon, who is on the PBL board.
Qantas announced that Mr Dixon would remain with the airline as chief executive until at least July 2009.