James Packer: News

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Packer emerges as OnlyFans backer in $4.3b deal: report

May 10, 2026

Billionaire James Packer has emerged among backers of a US investment firm that bought a minority stake in the adults-only video sharing sensation, OnlyFans, which valued the company at $US3.15 billion ($4.3 billion) following the death of its owner.

OnlyFans said on Friday (Saturday AEST) that San Francisco-based Architect Capital had agreed to buy 16 per cent of OnlyFans parent company Fenix International for $US535 million

The Financial Times first reported that Architect financed the deal by raising money from wealthy investors and family offices, including Packer and Sam Lessin, a partner at US venture capital firm Slow Ventures.

Packer declined to comment when approached by The Australian Financial Review, but the reported play continues a pattern of investment in digital businesses.

The 58-year-old former Sydneysider, who now spends most of his time in the United States, is best known for his Crown Resorts casino empire, which he built up after liquidating the media business built by his late father, Kerry Packer.

Packer, whose net worth is estimated at $5 billion by the Financial Review Rich List, stepped down from the casino operator’s board in 2018, blaming his poor mental health, and sold down his stake between 2019 and 2022 to former business partner Lawrence Ho and investment giant Blackstone.

Through his private company, Consolidated Press Holdings, he was an early investor in classifieds disruptors Seek and Carsales, and has been a prominent backer of US online real estate platform Zillow and sports betting group Flutter.

In OnlyFans, he has bought into a business that has its detractors, given the notorious nature of much of its content, but is throwing off cash.

The late American-Ukrainian entrepreneur Leonid Radvinsky bought Fenix in 2018 and helped build OnlyFans into an online entertainment powerhouse popular with sex workers. The platform has 4 million content creators and 377 million users.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Radvinsky collected close to $US1 billion in dividends from Fenix International, in the two-year period that ended November 30, 2024 alone.

After his death in March from cancer, his widow, Yekaterina ‘Katie’ Chudnovsky, took control of the company and will retain majority ownership.

News

James Packer Buys $120 Million Stake In Paramount Global As He Continues Return To Media
- December 2023

Australian billionaire James Packer has bought an $80 million (AU$120 million) stake in Network 10 owner, Paramount Global.

Packer returned to the media this year after an absence of several years. He was named in July as a key investor in multimillion-dollar investor in Alan Jones’ Australian Digital Holdings.

It is not the first time Packer has owned a stake in Network 10. In 2018 he bought an 18 per cent stake in the broadcaster for $244 million before selling half of it to Lachlan Murdoch.

Network 10 was then placed into administration in 2017, before being bought by US studio CBS which subsequently merged with Paramount.

The holdings were revealed in a filing to the US regulator from Packer’s company Consolidated Press International Holdings.

The filings showed Consolidated Press International Holdings has built up a portfolio worth $US363.7 million. It is predominantly focused on technology stocks.

It also showed that Packer had reduced his Netflix stake from $US23.2 million to $US19.9 million from August to November.

Packer’s second largest investment is a $US34.6 million stake in Blackstone, which owns Crown Casino. He sold his shareholding in Crown Resorts last year for more than $3 billion.

News

James Packer returns to the media sector with investment in Paramount - December 13, 2023

The Australian has reported James Packer has returned to the media sector with a $122 million investment in the US entertainment giant Paramount.

Paramount is the owner of Australian free-to-air broadcaster Network Ten.

The Australian’s Margin Call column gained access to a list of Mr Packer’s holdings from fillings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The list includes investments in Crown Resorts owner Blackstone, Hilton Worldwide, Netflix, Expedia and Microsoft.

Mr Packer walked away from his investment in Crown with around $3.3 billion when Blackstone took it over for $8.9 billion in June.

News

James Packer heir due in June - 13th January 2008
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)

Billionaire James Packer and his model wife, Erica Baxter, are expecting their first child in June.

Erica is four months pregnant, capping off a dream year for the Packers, who celebrated a lavish four-day, $6million wedding on the French Riviera last June.

The couple have told friends they are delighted about the impending new addition to their family.

Due back in Sydney later this week after a summer holiday in North America, the Packers have been able to enjoy some privacy during Baxter's first trimester.

"They are delighted,'' a source close to the Packers said.

"They can't believe they haven't been in the spotlight yet, but Erica has a noticeable bump now, so they know it's going to end.''

The Packers enjoyed a family Christmas in Sydney and spent Boxing Day on the family's luxury yacht, the Arctic P, before jetting to the US for a holiday.

The new Packer heir will be born into one of Australia's most prominent families, to a father who took over the role of patriarch from the late Kerry Packer, who died on Boxing Day 2005.

In the past year James Packer, 40, has removed himself from the family's traditional media interests to concentrate on building the international gaming empire that began with Melbourne's Crown Casino.

He has also reportedly maintained his ties with the controversial Church of Scientology and counts the cult's most famous member, actor Tom Cruise, among his closest friends.

Cruise and his fellow Hollywood star wife, Katie Holmes, headed the guest list at the Packer wedding at Cap d'Antibes in the south of France - the biggest event on last year's society calendar.

Among other guests were News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch, his son and News Corp board member, Lachlan Murdoch, and Lachlan's wife, Sarah.

Also present were several Channel 9 personalities, including Eddie McGuire, Karl Stefanovic and Leila McKinnon - whose husband, David Gyngell, was best man.

Ms Baxter's sister, Joanna, attended the bride, who wore a $100,000 Christian Dior gown.

Shortly before the wedding, 30-year-old Baxter, an aspiring pop star, released her debut album, to generally positive reviews.

It was James Packer's second marriage, after his short-lived union with swimsuit model Jodhi Meares ended with their divorce in 2002.

The expectant couple - who had dated on and off since 2003 - liveat Sydney's Bondi, overlooking the iconic beach.

Baxter, who once dated Jason Donovan, grew up in the small country town of Gunnedah, in northwest NSW, before moving to Sydney as a teenager to model.