James Packer quits board of Crown Resorts

Last week there were reports saying that the company was holding talks with private financiers about a possible proposal to take the company private.

Australia.- Just four months after stepping down as chairman of Crown Resorts Ltd, the australian billionaire James Packer quit the board of the casino giant, as revenues in Macau keep falling for the 18th consecutive month.

Though no official reason for the departure was made, Mr Packer, who owns 53 percent of the A$9 billion (USS$9.1 billion) company, said in a statement that he planned to continue to develop projects in Sydney, Melbourne and Las Vegas. Moreover, the statement explains that Mr Packer’s private investment vehicle, Consolidated Press Holdings Ltd, “recently concluded a major transaction in my family’s business and this also has assisted the timing of my decision.”

After the death of his father in 2005, Mr. Packer  took over the running of Crown, then a media conglomerate called Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd and transformed it into one of the world’s biggest casino developers and operators.

Currently, Crown owns a one-third stake in Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd, the Hong Kong-based company opened a 420,000 square foot casino in Macau early this year. And last August, on the same day that Crown reported a one-fifth decline in annual net profit because of lower Macau earnings, Packer announced that he was quitting as chairman.