Media figures populate the AFR Rich List
A number of high profile media owners have made the Financial Review’s annual Rich List, however their continued fortunes seem to be despite their media holdings, not because of them.
Kerry Stokes has the biggest fortune of any of the media owners, with his $12.69 billion growing by 12% in a year.
This is thanks to his majority stake in Seven Group Holdings, and its canny purchase of $4.4 billion construction giant Boral. Not bad for a man who started off installing television antennas.
Although it’s how he began building his fortune, the television side of his business hardly warrants mentioning these days. As the AFR noted, the falling value of Seven West Media, following a 69% profit drop in 2024, “barely made a dent in his valuation”.
Stokes
Stokes was ranked #10 on the list, ahead of #15 Richard White, who lost 9% of his now $10.59 billion fortune during a controversial 12-month period.
White built his fortune through logistics software company Wisetech Global, which he owns 36% of, but is also heavily invested in Vinyl Group, the ASX-listed media company that holds the local licence to Rolling Stone and Variety.
The only other media-holders in the list are heirs to empires built in the lucrative past.
James Packer is ranked at #30, dropping 12% over the past twelve months, to sit on a $4.98 billion wealth pile.
He dodged a bullet in 2022 when he sold off Crown Resort casinos pre-laundering scandal, and reinvested the billions into future-leaning tech stocks like Nvidia, TSMC, and Meta. Interestingly, the AFR noted Packer has this year reported being debt-free “for the first time in his life”.
The bulk of his wealth came from his half of the Kerry Packer estate, which he split in 2015 with his sister Gretel, who sits at #71. She gained 7% to hold 2.33 billion.
Gretel’s wealth is now held in various properties, including the Minerva art deco theatre, plus the family’s Hunter Valley polo grounds, and Ellerston estate.
Lachlan Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch’s two eldest children also made the list, with daughter Prudence (#44) more wealthy than his business heir apparent Lachlan (#47).
Prudence is worth 3.5 billion, growing this by 10% through the success of her private equity group Macdoch. Lachlan is worth $3.21 billion, losing 14% in the year.
Lachlan is chairman of News Corp and CEO of Fox Corporation, the twin empires of the family legacy. Over the past year, News Corp shares climbed 20% due to the DAZN Foxtel sale and the continued might of REA Group, while Fox Corp. grew 60%, due to its election coverage driving a massive ratings boost.
However, he dropped $500 million this year, due to a 27% drop in Disney shares — when the company bought 21st Century Fox, the family received Disney equity.
The 200 largest fortunes in the country have increased collectively by 6.9% over the year, to $667.8 billion.
Mining magnate Gina Rinehart topped the AFR Rich List for the sixth year in a row, with a net worth of $38.1 billion.
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Nathan Jolly is the Features Editor at Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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