Media magnate Kerry Packer dies.
Australian media magnate Kerry Packer, thought to be the country's richest man, has died peacefully at the age of 68 at home among his family in Sydney.
Forbes magazine valued him at US$5bn (4.2bn euros) this year.
Packer, an avid sports fan, became known to the wider world when he founded World Series Cricket in 1977.
As well as Nine Network and the Australian Consolidated Press, PBL owns Melbourne's Crown Casino and has been developing casinos in the Chinese territory of Macau.
The exact cause of his death is not yet clear but he had suffered health problems including a battle with cancer, and had had a kidney transplant.
"He died peacefully at home with his family at his bedside," a statement from his family said.
Packer is considered to be the person who transformed sport on television, especially cricket, the BBC's Phil Mercer reports from Sydney.
In the late 1970s, he took on the cricket establishment and signed up the world's best players under the World Series banner.
Packer's business interests also allowed him to follow his other passions, which were gambling and horse racing, our correspondent adds.
He is survived by his wife and children, James and Gretel.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4561560.stm
I'm in mourning. One of my all time heroes, he took on the gin and tonic and prawn sandwich filth who ran world cricket and gave them the bloody good hiding they deserved. Not only that, but after Packer the dirt were forced to pay cricketers a living wage, resulting in great cricketers such as Sachin Teldulkar, Richard Hadlee, Alec Stewart etc. choosing cricket as an early career when they could quite easily have secured their futures by following one of the professions.
A sad day for all cricket fans who have really bothered to study the game.
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