Australia's man of largest financial quantum, Kerry Packer, yesterday lost a defamation case against rival media group John Fairfax Pty Ltd. Packer claimed that a satirical caption appearing in The Sydney Morning Herald on 16 December, 1999 construed him as 'a power-crazed greedy man.' Unsurprisingly, Fairfax-owned newspaper The Age was quick to carry the story.

The alleged defamatory material was the following caption, which appeared alongside a photo of Mr Packer: '"I'll have every bit of New Year's Eve, all of the new millennium, anything that moves. And I'll have you, too" - Dr Kerry Packer.'

The jury inclined seemed to agree, deciding that the article should be construed in the comical tone in which the newspaper made the statement. In what must be a relief for Fairfax, the Court awarded costs against Mr Packer (and his postnomial toting brethen).