Mike Cannon-Brookes
Michael Cannon-Brookes (born 17 November 1979) is an Australian businessman who is the co-founder and co-CEO of software company Atlassian.
Mike Cannon-Brookes | |
|---|---|
Cannon-Brookes in 2018 | |
| Born | Michael Cannon-Brookes 17 November 1979 New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Education | Cranbrook School |
| Alma mater | University of New South Wales |
| Occupation | Co-CEO of Atlassian |
| Employer |
|
| Known for | Co-founding Atlassian |
| Board member of | Atlassian |
| Spouse(s) | Annie Todd (m. 2010; sep. 2023) |
| Children | 4 |
| Awards |
|
| Website | atlassian |
Since 2018, he has been involved in the Australia-Asia Power Link, a huge electricity infrastructure project to be developed in the Northern Territory by Sun Cable in a collaboration with Twiggy Forrest.
Early life and education edit
Michael Cannon-Brookes was born on 17 November 1979,[1][2] the son of a global banking executive, also named Mike, and his wife, Helen.[3] He attended Cranbrook School in Sydney,[4] and graduated from the University of New South Wales[5] with a bachelor's degree in information systems on a UNSW co-op scholarship.[6][7]
Career edit
Cannon-Brookes co-founded Atlassian, a collaboration software company, of which he is co-CEO, with Scott Farquhar. The pair started the company in 2002, shortly after graduating from university, funding it with credit cards.[8] They have said they founded Atlassian with the aim of earning the then-typical graduate starting salary of A$48,000 at the big corporations without having to work for someone else.[9][10]
Their first major Atlassian product was Jira, an issue- and project-tracking software.[11] They decided to forgo the expense of hiring sales people, and instead spent their time and money on building a good product and selling it at a more affordable price via the Atlassian website.[11] As of 2016, the company still did not have a traditional sales force, investing instead in research and development.[12]
In 2005, they opened an office in New York, where most of their clients were.[11] Later in 2005 they moved the U.S. office to San Francisco,[13] which had a much larger pool of relevant technical talent.[11]
Their first external funding for Atlassian was a US$60 million round from Accel in 2010.[14] In 2014, they redomiciled the company to the UK, in advance of an initial public offering (IPO).[15]
Atlassian made its debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange in December 2015,[16] with a market capitalisation of $4.37 billion.[17] The IPO made Cannon-Brookes and Farquhar Australia's first tech startup billionaires and household names in Australia.[18][19][20]
Cannon-Brookes and Farquhar redomiciled Atlassian to the United States in 2022.[15] In March that year, Cannon-Brookes and billionaire Andrew Forrest invested in the Sun Cable project, to build a solar and battery farm 12,000 hectares (120 km2) in size at Powell Creek, Northern Territory, and a power-cable to link it to Singapore (via Indonesia) leaving Australia at Murrumujuk beach.[21][22] In January 2023, Sun Cable went into administration owing to disagreements between Cannon-Brookes and Forrest, and in May 2023, Cannon-Brookes' company Grok Ventures outbid Forrest and others to buy the liquidated company.[23][22]
Other activities edit
Cannon-Brookes is an adjunct professor at the University of New South Wales' School of Computer Science and Engineering.[24] He is a co-owner in the Utah Jazz and owns a stake in the South Sydney Rabbitohs, the latter who he grew up being a fan of.[5] Cannon-Brookes is a major investor in Australian publicly listed energy company AGL,[25] having planned to take it over in 2022.[5] When that failed, he became the largest shareholder to stop a demerger from spinning out coal power plants.[5] In September 2020, it was revealed that Cannon-Brookes was among 35,000 Australians listed on a Chinese Government "Overseas Key Individuals Database" of prominent international individuals of interest for China.[26][27]
Personal life edit
Cannon-Brookes married American fashion designer Annie Todd in 2010, and they have four children together.[28][29] The couple first met at a Qantas lounge while flying from Sydney to San Francisco.[30] Cannon-Brookes and Todd lived in Sydney's eastern suburbs in Centennial Park.[10] In 2018 they bought Fairwater, Australia's most expensive house for approximately A$100 million, next door to Scott Farquhar's A$71 million Point Piper harbourside mansion, Elaine. Cannon-Brookes also acquired the 1923-built heritage residence Verona, designed by architect Leslie Wilkinson and located in Double Bay, for A$17 million.[31] The house previously belonged to New Zealand philanthropist Pat Goodman. Prior to that, in 2016, Cannon-Brookes had bought the A$7.05 million SeaDragon house, built in 1936, also designed by Wilkinson and updated by architect Luigi Rosselli.[32] His Centennial Park home sold for A$16.5 million.[33] In 2019 he purchased a house near Fairwater for A$12 million.[34] Cannon-Brookes separated from his wife Annie in July 2023.[28]
Recognition edit
Cannon-Brookes and Farquhar were recognised as Ernst & Young's 2006 Australian Entrepreneur of the Year.[35] He is a member of The Forum of Young Global Leaders.[6]
Net worth edit
In 2016, his net worth was estimated by Forbes on the list of Australia's 50 Richest people as US$1.69 billion;[36] by BRW Rich 200 as A$2.00 billion;[37] and by the Sunday Times Rich List as £906 million.[38] As of May 2023[update], the Australian Financial Review estimated his net worth was A$19.01 billion.[39] Meanwhile, in 2021, his net worth was assessed at US$13.7 billion by Forbes and at US$11.2 billion by Bloomberg.[40]
| Year | BRW Rich 200 | Forbes Australia's 50 Richest | Sunday Times Rich List | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Net worth (A$) | Rank | Net worth (US$) | Rank | Net worth (£) | |
| 2013[41][42] | 190 | $0.25 billion | n/a | not listed | ||
| 2014[43][44] | 35 | $1.07 billion | n/a | not listed | ||
| 2015[45][46] | 42 | $1.14 billion | 25 | $1.10 billion | ||
| 2016[37][36][38] | 18 | $2.00 billion | 14 | $1.69 billion | £906 million | |
| 2017[47][48] | 17 | $2.51 billion | 10 | $3.40 billion | ||
| 2018[49] | 12 | $5.16 billion | 5 | |||
| 2019[50][51][52] | 6 | $9.63 billion | 5 | $6.40 billion | ||
| 2020[53] | 5 | $16.93 billion | ||||
| 2021[54][40] | 3 | $20.18 billion | $13.70 billion | |||
| 2022 | 3 | $27.80 billion | ||||
| 2023[39] | 6 | $19.01 billion | ||||
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Icon | Description |
| Has not changed from the previous year | |
| Has increased from the previous year | |
| Has decreased from the previous year | |
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Santoreneos, Anastasia (26 November 2020). "He's worth $18.4 billion - but he won't qualify for this rich list anymore". Yahoo! Finance. from the original on 20 January 2021.
- ^ "WA's best and brightest young guns top rich list". The West Australian. 26 November 2020. from the original on 23 April 2024.
- ^ Gray, Joanne (9 June 2016). "Michael Cannon-Brookes snr: How I raised a son who became Atlassian billionaire". Australian Financial Review. Australia. from the original on 9 June 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
- ^ Cranbrook School: Elite Sydney institution eyes up major change 6 December 2021 at the Wayback Machine News.com.au
- ^ a b c d Kahn, Brian (16 April 2024). "A Software Billionaire Is Betting Big on a Wild Climate Fix". Bloomberg News. Shoko Oda, David Stringer, Stephen Stapczynski, and Yue Qiu contributed. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
- ^ a b "Mike Cannon-Brookes: Co-founder & CEO". Atlassian. from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
- ^ Christian, Natasha; Aidone, David (2 August 2019). "The Australian universities most likely to make you a multi-millionaire". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 23 April 2024.
- ^ "Mike Cannon-Brookes". Forbes. from the original on 23 July 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
- ^ Fitzsimmons, Caitlin (12 April 2014). "Accidental billionaires: why Atlassian's Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar are so admired in the start-up industry". Australian Financial Review. Australian. from the original on 6 June 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
- ^ a b Kitney, Damon (27 February 2016). "The Cannon-Brookes: balancing life as accidental billionaires". The Australian. from the original on 7 November 2023. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
- ^ a b c d Powell, Rose (10 August 2015). "Startup War Story: Atlassian ignored bad advice, avoided sales staff and grew fast". Australian Financial Review. from the original on 4 April 2024. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
- ^ McDuling, John (8 August 2016). "The secret to Atlassian's success". Australian Financial Review. from the original on 4 April 2024. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
- ^ McGahan, Donna (10 March 2009). "Atlassian Support – The Legend Continues". Atlassian.com. from the original on 5 April 2024. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
- ^ Yolanda Redrup, Yolanda Redrup (6 May 2021). "Atlassian's Scott Farquhar tells founders not to bootstrap". Australian Financial Review. from the original on 5 April 2024. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
- ^ a b Conchie, Charlie (10 July 2022). "Software giant Atlassian leaves UK in setback for the City's tech hopes". City A.M. from the original on 28 December 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ^ Primack, Dan. "And the Price of the Last Big Tech IPO of 2015 Is..." from the original on 11 December 2015.
- ^ "And the Price of the Last Big Tech IPO of 2015 Is..." Fortune. from the original on 11 December 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
- ^ Moses, Asher (15 July 2010). "From Uni dropouts to software magnates". The Sydney Morning Herald. from the original on 4 December 2013.
- ^ Finley, Klint. "Atlassian Challenges GitHub to a Fork Fight". Wired. from the original on 22 May 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
- ^ Bowles, Nellie (13 February 2019). "The Strange Experience of Being Australia's First Tech Billionaires". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
- ^ "Twiggy Forrest, Mike Cannon-Brookes lead $210m raise for intercontinental solar power project". 14 March 2022. from the original on 17 May 2022. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
- ^ a b Terzon, Emilia (5 May 2023). "Sun Cable: Why Australia's two richest men are battling to control an unbuilt solar farm". ABC News (Australia). from the original on 5 May 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
- ^ "Sun Cable: Mike Cannon-Brookes wins control of mega solar project after fall-out with Andrew Forrest". ABC News AU. 27 May 2023. from the original on 27 May 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
- ^ "Marriage of equals". Sydney Morning Herald. 10 May 2014. from the original on 23 April 2024.
- ^ "Billionaire Cannon-Brookes to Seek Stake in Australia's AGL". Bloomberg.com. 2 May 2022. from the original on 8 May 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
- ^ "Why Mike Cannon-Brookes is on a Chinese military database". Australian Financial Review. 13 September 2020. from the original on 16 September 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
- ^ Grigg, Angus (14 September 2020). "China's social media warfare database lists key Australians". Australian Financial Review. from the original on 5 April 2024. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
- ^ a b Riordan, Primrose; Bailey, Michael (24 July 2023). "Atlassian's Mike Cannon-Brookes faces asset split after separation". Australian Financial Review. from the original on 2 April 2024. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ "Imposter Syndrome as an Asset". Atlassian blog. from the original on 1 September 2017. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
- ^ Riordan, Primrose (21 July 2023). "Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes to separate". Australian Financial Review. from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
- ^ Macken, Lucy (27 September 2018). "Mike Cannon-Brookes paid $17m for Double Bay house day after he bought $100m Fairwater estate". Domain. from the original on 5 May 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
- ^ Macken, Lucy (9 February 2017). "Techie Mike Cannon-Brookes proves a sucker for fine real estate, twice". Domain. from the original on 5 May 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
- ^ "Australia's most expensive house sells for $100m". OneRoof. NZME Publishing Limited. 28 September 2018. from the original on 29 September 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
- ^ Macken, Lucy (26 April 2019). "Mike Cannon-Brookes buys house next door to Fairwater for $12m". Domain. from the original on 5 May 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
- ^ . Ernst & Young. Archived from the original on 31 December 2006. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
- ^ a b "2015 Australia's 50 Richest". Forbes Asia. March 2015. from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
- ^ a b Stensholt, John, ed. (29 May 2016). "BRW Rich 200 List 2016". Australian Financial Review. Australia. from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
- ^ a b "Rich List 2016". The Sunday Times. No. 44. 24 April 2016.
- ^ a b Bailey, Michael; Sprague, Julie-anne (26 May 2023). "The 200 richest people in Australia revealed". Australian Financial Review. from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
- ^ a b "Bloomberg Billionaires Index: Mike Cannon-Brookes". Bloomberg. from the original on 25 May 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
- ^ Stensholt, John, ed. (May 2013). "BRW Rich 200 List 2013". Australian Financial Review. Australia. from the original on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
- ^ "Gina Rinehart tops Forbes' Australian rich list". The Australian. Australian Associated Press. 31 January 2013. from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
- ^ Stensholt, John, ed. (27 June 2014). "BRW Rich 200 List 2014". Australian Financial Review. Australia. from the original on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
- ^ Rollason, Adam (30 January 2014). "Rinehart on top, Palmer down on Forbes rich list". Financial Review. Australia. from the original on 15 June 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
- ^ "2015 Australia's 50 Richest". Forbes Asia. March 2015. from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
- ^ Stensholt, John, ed. (May 2015). "BRW Rich 200 List 2015". Australian Financial Review. Australia. from the original on 10 April 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
- ^ Stensholt, John, ed. (25 May 2017). "Financial Review Rich List 2017". Australian Financial Review. from the original on 6 August 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
- ^ "Australia's Richest 2017: Country's Wealthiest Continue Mining For Dollars". Forbes Asia. 1 November 2017. from the original on 15 August 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
- ^ Stensholt, John, ed. (25 May 2018). "2018 AFR Rich List: Who are Australia's richest people?". Australian Financial Review. from the original on 26 May 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
- ^ Bailey, Michael (30 May 2019). "Australia's 200 richest people revealed". The Australian Financial Review. from the original on 3 September 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
- ^ "2019 Australia's 50 Richest". Forbes Asia. January 2019. from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
- ^ Kruger, Colin (19 March 2019). "Atlassian founders worth $10 billion each after record stock rise". Sydney Morning Herald. from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
- ^ Bailey, Michael; Sprague, Julie-anne (30 October 2020). "The full list: Australia's wealthiest 200 revealed". Australian Financial Review. from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
- ^ Bailey, Michael; Sprague, Julie-anne (27 May 2021). "The 200 richest people in Australia revealed". Australian Financial Review. from the original on 27 May 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
External links edit
- Mike Cannon-Brookes on Twitter