KERRY Packer, Australia's richest man for the past four decades, was not his father's first choice to take over the family-owned media empire.

From the mid-1950s, Sir Frank Packer had wanted Kerry's elder brother, Clyde, to succeed him at the helm of Consolidated Press Holdings and the family's television stations in Melbourne and Sydney.

But by the mid-1960s, Sir Frank's plan for succession began to flake after Clyde embarked on a career in the NSW Parliament as a Liberal Upper House member.

Clyde's desire for the top job evaporated in August, 1972, after Sir Frank blocked a Mike Willesee interview with then ACTU President Bob Hawke from going to air.

He left the family business.

When Sir Frank died in May, 1974, Kerry, then deputy chairman of Consolidated Press and the TV businesses, took formal control. It was an amazing rise for a man who had dyslexia and was often introduced by his father as "my idiot son".

Mr Packer's importance as a corporate leader was soon apparent. While media are still a core part of the group his son, James, 38, now controls, the overall business diversified.

Assets such as Crown casino and the Burswood casino in Perth have generated much higher returns than foundation assets such as Women's Weekly. Mr Packer used the bare-knuckled business style of Sir Frank, who established the market dominance of his TV stations and magazines by blending ruthlessness with rewarding loyal staff.

But he added a strategic genius exemplified by his transactions with Alan Bond in 1987.

The deals resulted in Bond handing over $800 million cash and $255 million in preference shares for control of the Nine Network. Less than three years later, Mr Packer reacquired the business for $200 million. The acquisition of Crown casino in the late 1990s was done in similar circumstances.

In both cases, Mr Packer negotiated to buy high-profile assets that were suffering financial stress and mismanagement.

In May, 1977, World Series Cricket extended Mr Packer's profile beyond Sydney and the legacy of his father.

Mr Packer shocked the world cricket establishment by signing up 35 of the world's best players.

International stars such as Greg Chappell, Viv Richards and Tony Greig agreed to play in cricket games to compete against official Test matches the following summer in Australia.

Mr Packer had made several unsuccessful bids to win broadcasting rights for Test matches.

On December 2, 1977, former Australian Test captain Ian Chappell led a rebel team on to VFL Park for the first World Series supertest against Clive Lloyd's star-studded West Indians. Channel 9's cameras caught all the action with support from advertisers such as McDonald's and Coca Cola.

That day, Test legend Bob Simpson returned to lead an official Test team at the Gabba for the first of a five-match series against India. ABC TV covered the official action.

Mr Packer's heavy promotion and innovations drew fans. By May, 1979, the war with the Australian Cricket Board was over. Mr Packer secured long-term broadcast rights to Tests.

His gambling was legendary. Perhaps his most stunning plunge was at Flemington in 1997 when he and former Crown boss Lloyd Williams won more than $6 million on Melbourne Cup winner Might and Power.

Gambling also brought him heartache. He was said to have lost $28.2 million on blackjack at a London den in 2000. That was eclipsed later in the year when he blew $33.3 million at Bellagio casino in Las Vegas.

Mr Packer was not outspoken on politics and matters of public interest. But several Channel 9 journalists and program planners were on the receiving end of blasts from The Boss, when stories he did not like went to air. His most theatrical foray into public debate came in November, 1991, when he reluctantly appeared before a parliamentary committee into the newspaper industry.

Each of the 11 MPs on the committee, including now Treasurer Peter Costello, was blasted off the TV stage by the mogul.

"Of course I'm minimising tax. If anybody in this country does not minimise tax they want their head read because, as a Government, I can tell you, you are not spending it that well that we should be donating extra," he told the committee.

His anger often was stirred by the role of the media. His feelings stemmed partly from what he saw as gratuitous reporting of allegations made against him in the 1984 Costigan Royal Commission. The "goanna" allegations said he was involved in illegal drug running, unlawful tax schemes and other unsavoury activities. None was proven and, in 1985, John Fairfax & Sons, proprietor of the National Times, which published the most serious claims, apologised.