Farquhar away: Atlassian co-founders crack Rich List top 10, but which is richest?

The Australian Financial Review’s Rich List 2019 has landed, and predictably, Atlassian co-founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar are representing the tech industry at the top.

This year, the co-founding duo has leapt into the top 10 for the first time, with Farquhar coming in fifth place with an estimated wealth of $9.75 billion.

Cannon-Brookes follows close behind in sixth place, with a wealth of $9.63 billion.

Farquhar’s wealth has increased by 89% since last year’s list, and Cannon-Brookes’ has increased by 86.6%.

The increase follows continued success for Australia’s biggest startup success story.

In January, Atlassian reported what the co-founders called a “ripper of a quarter”, which saw revenue for the 2018 calendar year top $US1 billion.

Currently, the Nasdaq-listed tech giant has a market cap of $US30.43 billion.

However, this is the first time the co-chief executives haven’t been level pegging in the Rich List. Last year, the pair were in 10th and 11th place, with matching personal wealth of $5.16 billion apiece.

In 2017, their estimated wealth was $2.5 billion each, landing them in 17th and 18th place.

The discrepancy this year is likely down to each of the founders’ investments elsewhere.

Farquhar, who has pulled slightly ahead of his buddy in the wealth stakes, has invested in SafetyCulture, which in May last year raised $60 million to score a valuation of $440 million.

He also heads up private investment fund Skip Capital with his wife Kim Jackson. Skip Capital has invested in successful Aussie startups such as CultureAmp and Brighte, and has more recently contributed to IoT startup Morse Micro’s $24 million Series A raise.

Cannon-Brookes is also investing in the startup ecosystem, through VC fund Grok Ventures.

Grok Ventures has also invested in software startup CultureAmp, as well as backing pocket-money app Spriggy, IoT security startup Cog Systems and August Robotics.

Last year, Cannon-Brookes also splurged on Australia’s most expensive house, dropping $100 million on a 2.77-acre property on Sydney Harbour.

The house is next door to Farquhar’s family home, but cost some $30 million more.

In this year’s Rich List top 10, Cannon-Brookes and Farquhar are not only repping for t-shirts and baseball caps, they’re also the only two in the technology industry.

The next listed tech mogul is Richard White, founder of WiseTech Global, who is 20th on the list with an estimated wealth of $1.66 billion.

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