Read about Kim Williams net worth, age, wife, children, height, family, parents, salary and career as well as other information you need to know.
Introduction
Kim Williams is an Australian media executive and composer. He has headed a wide range of prominent organizations such as Musica Viva Australia, Foxtel, the Australian Film Commission, the Sydney Opera House Trust and News Limited (now News Corp Australia).
Early life
| Name | Kim Williams |
| Net Worth | $5 million |
| Occupation | Media executive, Composer |
| Age | 71 years |
| Height | 1.75m |
Kimberley Lynton “Kim” Williams AM was born in 1952 (age 71 years) in Sydney, Australia. He is the son of Joan and David Williams AM (1925–2009). His father was the managing director of the Greater Union Organisation and recipient of the Australian Film Institute’s Raymond Longford Award. Candice, his sister, is married to the cellist Nathan Waks.
Williams attended schools in West Ryde (Marsden High School where Richard Gill was his music teacher) and Ermington. During his youth, he was an Australian Lego champion. He studied the clarinet and had tuition from Donald Westlake at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He won a Commonwealth scholarship to the University of Sydney, choosing to study music.
He also had private lessons with Peter Sculthorpe in 1969. He was invited by Donald Peart, inaugural Professor of Music at the University of Sydney, to be the concert organizer of the International Society for Contemporary Music. Williams was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, defending himself in court. His impending imprisonment was averted when the incoming Whitlam Labor government abolished national service in late 1972.
Career
Kim Williams had a series of management roles in music after graduation: in opera; at the Sydney Conservatorium under Rex Hobcroft; as a member of the inaugural Australia Council Music Board (1973); and as general manager of Music Rostrum Australia, whose artistic director was Roger Woodward.
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Williams studied composition in Italy with Luciano Berio between 1975 and 1977. He was assistant to Berio’s ex-wife, the American soprano Cathy Berberian. He also had significant involvement with the Israel Chamber Orchestra. On return to Australia, he became general manager (1977–84) and later board member and chairman (1984–2004) of Musica Viva Australia.
He was then CEO of the Australian Film Commission, he ran the TV production house Southern Star Group and became a senior executive at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). In 1988, he was appointed Foundation Chairman of Film Finance Corporation Australia.
In 1995, shortly after the last-minute failure of a deal for ABC to provide two news channels to Rupert Murdoch’s Foxtel, which Williams had spearheaded on behalf of ABC, he left ABC to accept Murdoch’s invitation to head Fox Studios. In December 2001 he became Chief Executive of Foxtel. He remained until 2011 and was praised for reversing Foxtel’s fortunes from a chronic loss-maker to high-profitability.
Kim Williams was a participant in the Australia 2020 Summit, as a member of the Towards a Creative Australia working group. Williams was Chairman of the Sydney Opera House Trust from 2005, on the invitation of the then Premier of New South Wales Bob Carr, until stepping down in 2013. In 2006 he was canvassed as a potential successor to Russell Balding after Balding resigned as managing director of ABC.
In December 2011, Williams was appointed CEO of News Limited (which became News Corp Australia in July 2013). He resigned in August 2013 amid reports that his management style had alienated many staff members and executives, including members of the Murdoch family. In February 2014 he was appointed a Commissioner of the Australian Football League (AFL).
In 2014, Kim Williams published Rules of Engagement, an account of his time in Australia’s leading boardrooms and organizations. Williams was appointed an independent board member of the Copyright Agency Limited in January 2015 and has been its Chair since June 2015. In 2016 Williams was appointed Chairman of the State Library of New South Wales Foundation Board.
In 2011, he established the David and Joan Williams Documentary Fellowship in honor of his late parents. In November 2013, he was invited by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research to become one of the first Australians to have his personal genome sequenced.
Wife
Kim Williams was married to his first wife Kathy Lette from 1983 to 1989. As of April 2023, Kim Williams is still married to his second wife Catherine Dovey since 1998. His current wife is the daughter of Gough and Margaret Whitlam (née Dovey), and Kathy Lette’s best friend. He and his wife Dovey have endowed the Williams/Dovey Scholarship at the Centre for Social Impact.
Kim Williams net worth
How much is Kim Williams worth? Kim Williams net worth is estimated at around $5 million. His main source of income is from his primary work as a media executive and composer. Kim Williams’s salary per month and other career earnings are over $400,000 dollars annually. His remarkable achievements have earned him some luxurious lifestyles and some fancy car trips. He is one of the richest and most influential media executives in Australia. He stands at an appealing height of 1.75m and has a good body weight which suits his personality.