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| Australian businessman Alan Bond dies aged 77 | Australian businessman Alan Bond dies aged 77 |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Controversial Australian businessman Alan Bond has died at the age of 77. | Controversial Australian businessman Alan Bond has died at the age of 77. |
| Mr Bond died on Friday morning at the Fiona Stanley Hospital in a Perth after undergoing heart surgery earlier in the week. | Mr Bond died on Friday morning at the Fiona Stanley Hospital in a Perth after undergoing heart surgery earlier in the week. |
| The hospital and Mr Bond's adult children confirmed his death on Friday morning. | The hospital and Mr Bond's adult children confirmed his death on Friday morning. |
| Mr Bond, who funded Australia's 1983 Americas Cup win, fell from grace in 1996 when found guilty of Australia's then biggest corporate fraud. | |
| 'Larger than life' | |
| His children John Bond and Jodie Fewster, speaking outside Fiona Stanley Hospital, said he had died earlier that morning. | |
| His body "finally gave out after heroic efforts of everyone involved here at the intensive care unit at Fiona Stanley hospital," John Bond said. | |
| "He never regained consciousness after his surgery on Tuesday." | |
| Mr Bond paid tribute to his father saying that to a lot of people, he was a "larger-than-life character" who started with nothing and rose to the heights of corporate Australia. | |
| "He really did experience the highs and lows of life," said his son. | |
| "To us, however, he was just Dad - a father who tried his best to be the best dad he could." | |
| Alan Bond: Colourful character's fall from grace | |
| Australia II, skippered by John Bertrand and equipped with a novel winged keel, sailed into national folklore when it grabbed the cup away from the prestigious New York Yacht Club, breaking the longest winning streak - 132 years - in sporting history. | |
| Most Australians had never heard of the America's Cup. But the victory sparked massive celebration across the country and Bertrand was welcomed home with a ticker tape parade. | |
| But it was Alan Bond who made it all possible. | |
| The British-born Australian, then one of the nation's richest men, bankrolled the antipodeans' fourth bid to beat the Americans, and Australians loved him for it. | |
| Bankrupt | |
| Mr Bond shot to public acclaim in Australian in 1983 after he bank-rolled what would be the country's successful challenge of the coveted America's Cup yachting race. | |
| But a decade later, the man dubbed Australian of the Year in 1978, fell spectacularly from grace. | |
| In 1992 he was declared bankrupt, with personal debts totalling A$1.8 billion ($1.4bn;£900m). | |
| In 1997 he was jailed for what would be described as Australia's biggest case of corporate fraud. | |
| Mr Bond is survived by his ex-wife Eileen and three of his children, John, Craig and Jody. |