Packer

"He had not, for the most part, built businesses from the ground up. He was not a creator of new enterprises. Rather, he had done deals, cultivated relationships, capitalised on booms and aggregated money-earning assets. His great talent was that he could see ways of structuring a deal or a business enterprise that looked obvious in hindsight, yet which nobody had hit on before. He sensed a boom well before others. He had weaknesses, both in capacity and in emotions. Particularly, there was a lack where most of us have a sense of identity and place. He was a hoarder, a gatherer around himself of objects. He liked acquisition. Yet he also had an ability to reconfigure, and to move on when self- or business interest required. He was unlike Murdoch and Packer in that, when it came to business, he was mostly unsentimental. He saved sentiment for the art collection. Which is not to say he was unemotional. There was a chip on his shoulder, an abiding sense, despite his wealth and power, of being hard done by, and a determination to take it up to the establishment. But with all that he was good fun – laconic and outwardly even tempered. His employees liked him, and most were steadfastly loyal and well looked after. He was a dealer, rather than a manager, but he made up for any lack by the quality of the people he hired as his closest assistants, and the manner in which he kept them close."

"Whereas Packer’s Nine was a dictatorship that ran on fear of failure, Stokes has created a culture where there’s no such fear. ‘That comes from the chairman’s office all the way down,’ says Worner. ‘It’s not okay to fail repeatedly but it’s definitely okay to fail. When something tanks in the ratings he calls and you see his extension number come up and you think, “Oh, my God”, but he says, “That’s okay. Learn from it. Look for the next thing.” ‘Having no fear of failure in a creative organisation is very important. He understands that better than anyone.’ The surfer who loves football metaphors suddenly switches sports: ‘You’ve got to keep swinging for the fences, got to keep having a go.’"

"Packer states as fact he could not be close to Stokes if he were still running Nine. Playing business as a blood sport runs in the genes. Packer’s attitude that business rivalry endangers friendship seems to stand up. Stokes is on good terms with anyone he isn’t competing with."