Richard Pratt, boss of packaging giant Visy is close to death, with a number of media outlets reporting the 74 year-old billionaire businessman is gravely ill with prostate cancer and may only have weeks or possibly days to live.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that while both his daughters and their husbands have been dealt various parts of the empire, its Pratt’s only son Anthony who is expected to take the helm of the $5bn packaging empire.Sources say that Anthony, 50, who has been in charge of the US arm of Visy, will return to take over as head of the company and family. He will also need to deal with two civil court actions that are pending following allegations of price fixing made against Visy and fellow packaging giant Amcor.
Meanwhile, Bill Shorten, Australian Federal Labor MP and long-time family friend of the Pratt family, told the SMH that Richard Pratt was a great Australian and it was terrible to see him gravely ill.
Shorten says, “I think it's fair to say that Richard Pratt is currently held in very high respect by many, many people in Victoria and Australia; he employed thousands of people in good jobs.”
