James Packer has quit his role as casino company Crown’s chairman, but will remain on the board of the company.
Mr Packer is Crown’s majority shareholder, and the company said it intends to appoint him as a senior executive director.
The billionaire will also remain co-chairman of the company’s subsidiaries Melco Crown Entertainment in Asia (mainly Macau) and Alon Resort in Las Vegas.
Mr Packer said that, far from reducing his focus on Crown, the company remains his “number one business priority and passion”.
“I will continue to drive key projects, including our joint business in Asia and our planned resort in Las Vegas,” he said in a statement.
“I will also be working to improve Crown’s online strategies, an area where I believe we could be doing better and a platform which will provide great potential for global growth in the future.”
Fellow Crown director and prominent media buyer Harold Mitchell said he understands that family reasons are behind Mr Packer’s decision to step down as chairman.
“James is going to spend more time with his children, his children live in Los Angeles, so that’s perfectly understandable,” he told The World Today.
“So a decision on his part to stay actively involved as executive director but not chair the board, and not unusual, I saw Kerry Packer do this in many of his companies.”
Mr Packer’s replacement as Crown chairman will be Robert Rankin.
Crown profit tumbles on Macau investments
Crown Resorts reported a 41 per cent fall in profit to $385 million, hit by its struggling investments in Macau and a significant write-down in the value of its overseas investments.
While Crown’s Australian performance was solid, with earnings up 4 per cent to $947 million on a 14 per cent increase in revenues to $3.2 billion, overseas investments were weak.
Crown’s share of profits from the Melco Casino in Macau dropped by 58 per cent to $122 million.
The company was also forced to take a $61 million impairment charge on the value of its investments in the Las Vegas Cannery project and its now discontinued Sri Lankan foray.
Crown chief executive Rowen Craigie described the results as “mixed”.
“Macau is currently experiencing a difficult period which has adversely affected all casino operators,” Mr Craigie said.
Macau’s problems seem to be getting worse.
While gaming revenue across the Macau market fell 27 per cent in the past year, the past six months has seen a 37 per cent decline compared to the previous corresponding period.
Mr Craigie said he expected strong support from both the Macau and Chinese governments to step up their infrastructure programs to support the island’s tourism potential.
At 10:40am (AEST) Crown’s share price had tumbled 3.5 per cent to $13.04.
Source：http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-13/james-packer-quits-as-crown-chairman/6693960