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Kerry Stokes: Self-Made Man
Kerry Stokes: Self - Made Man is the real, fascinating story behind the rabbits - to - riches ascendancy of one of Australia's most powerful men. Plucked from an orphanage as an infant, Kerry Stokes grew up in the slums and streets of post - Depression Melbourne with his itinerant, adoptive parents. As a boy he trapped, skinned and sold rabbits to make ends meet, and seemed destined to a life of hardship and poverty. Today Stokes is one of Australia's most successful business moguls, with interests in property, mining, construction equipment and media. He picked the boom in China ahead of the pack, and has forged strong relationships there. He is a recipient of Australia's highest civil honour, and in 2013 he was a nominee for Australian of the Year. He owns what is probably the finest private art collection in the country, and has sat on the governing bodies of some of our leading cultural institutions. As the Packer family departs the media and the Murdoch clan tackles damage to its reputation on three continents, Stokes is emerging as the single most influential media proprietor in Australia. Yet Stokes has remained relatively low - profile, and is notoriously private. Mysterious and elusive, Stokes is the archetypal self - made man, driven by the determination to escape his past and the legacy of disadvantage. But at what cost?
406 pages, Hardcover
First published October 23, 2013
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About the author
Margaret Simons
26 books21 followersMargaret Simons (b 1960) is an Australian academic, freelance journalist and author. She is currently the media commentator for Crikey and has written ten books.
She is currently Director of the Centre for Advanced Journalism at the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the University of Melbourne.
Simons was a finalist for a Walkley Award for journalism in 2007 for the story Buried in the Labyrinth, about the release of a pedophile into the community, published in Griffith Review and her book The Content Makers – Understanding the Future of the Australian Media was longlisted for the 2008 non-fiction book Walkley award.
Simons also writes for The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Monthly. For many years, she wrote the "Earthmother" gardening column for The Australian.
Simons has a doctorate from the University of Technology, Sydney and was co-founder, with Melissa Sweet, of the community-funded news site YouComm News. She lives in Melbourne.
(from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margare...)
She is currently Director of the Centre for Advanced Journalism at the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the University of Melbourne.
Simons was a finalist for a Walkley Award for journalism in 2007 for the story Buried in the Labyrinth, about the release of a pedophile into the community, published in Griffith Review and her book The Content Makers – Understanding the Future of the Australian Media was longlisted for the 2008 non-fiction book Walkley award.
Simons also writes for The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Monthly. For many years, she wrote the "Earthmother" gardening column for The Australian.
Simons has a doctorate from the University of Technology, Sydney and was co-founder, with Melissa Sweet, of the community-funded news site YouComm News. She lives in Melbourne.
(from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margare...)
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 22, 2020
It was a very detailed book! Had so much information in it!
December 19, 2017
STOKES IS A MERCHANT - A CUTTTER OF DEALS AND AN EXPLOITER OF BOOMS.
Stokes started with nothing.
Stokes never met his Mum or Dad and was adopted out to a poor catholic couple who stripped him of his birth name and christened him Kerry Stokes.
Left home at 15.
He was dyslexic but wasnt diagnosed as a child.
Stokes, Merifield and Bendat were Perth's first local commercial property developers of any significance.
Stokes moves on quickly and rarely looks back.
He gives off energy - a constant restless striving.
Stokes bought a house in Dalkeith in 1973 (aged 33) which remains his house today.
Stokes and Bendat expanded into media following the sale of their shopping centres for $20m.
Money should be a by product of something you do better than anyone else.
When Stokes lost out to Skase in buying Ch7 Sydney and Melbourne from Fairfax he and Bendat sold his media assets (Canberra, Ch7 Adelaide and Perth) to Lowy. They sold for $200m, weeks before the 87 crash.
He bought back the Golden West Network from Low weeks after 87 crash without telling Bendat, ending their friendship.
Stokes spent heavily post the e87 crash - mainly art and commercial properties.
Got Caterpillar franchise when Bond bought Robert Holmes a Courts Bell Group.
Stokes private corporate vehicle is ACE (Australian Capital Equity) which was setup in 1981.
He bought his first paper, The Canberra Times from Packer in the 1990's.
Seven bought MGM studios in cohorts with Kirk Kerkorian in 1996.in 98 KK bought Stokes out of MGM in return for getting access to the content for 20 years. This was turning point for Seven.
Both Telstra and News Corp sold their stakes in Seven in 96/97.
By 2000 Stokes had crept to 33%, using cash he received from Rural Press from selling Canberra Times to them.
Stokes hired Leckie as head of the station in 2003. All the talent in ch9 was knocking on ch7 door due to Kerry Packer's failing judgement in his last years and John Alexander.
In 2004 Lost and Desperate Housewives from the US Disney-ABC content deal helped ch7 turn things around.
Stokes started with nothing.
Stokes never met his Mum or Dad and was adopted out to a poor catholic couple who stripped him of his birth name and christened him Kerry Stokes.
Left home at 15.
He was dyslexic but wasnt diagnosed as a child.
Stokes, Merifield and Bendat were Perth's first local commercial property developers of any significance.
Stokes moves on quickly and rarely looks back.
He gives off energy - a constant restless striving.
Stokes bought a house in Dalkeith in 1973 (aged 33) which remains his house today.
Stokes and Bendat expanded into media following the sale of their shopping centres for $20m.
Money should be a by product of something you do better than anyone else.
When Stokes lost out to Skase in buying Ch7 Sydney and Melbourne from Fairfax he and Bendat sold his media assets (Canberra, Ch7 Adelaide and Perth) to Lowy. They sold for $200m, weeks before the 87 crash.
He bought back the Golden West Network from Low weeks after 87 crash without telling Bendat, ending their friendship.
Stokes spent heavily post the e87 crash - mainly art and commercial properties.
Got Caterpillar franchise when Bond bought Robert Holmes a Courts Bell Group.
Stokes private corporate vehicle is ACE (Australian Capital Equity) which was setup in 1981.
He bought his first paper, The Canberra Times from Packer in the 1990's.
Seven bought MGM studios in cohorts with Kirk Kerkorian in 1996.in 98 KK bought Stokes out of MGM in return for getting access to the content for 20 years. This was turning point for Seven.
Both Telstra and News Corp sold their stakes in Seven in 96/97.
By 2000 Stokes had crept to 33%, using cash he received from Rural Press from selling Canberra Times to them.
Stokes hired Leckie as head of the station in 2003. All the talent in ch9 was knocking on ch7 door due to Kerry Packer's failing judgement in his last years and John Alexander.
In 2004 Lost and Desperate Housewives from the US Disney-ABC content deal helped ch7 turn things around.
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