Corporate Australia has recently experienced a founder “killing season”, but these founder-led companies are still keeping shareholders happy.
From left: Chemist Warehouse co-founder Mario Verrocchi, Reece Group’s Peter Wilson, Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes, Canva’s Melanie Perkins, and Pro Medicus co-founder Sam Hupert. Michaela Pollock
Investors love company founders for their passion, energy and skin in the game. But most of all, investors love the returns that founders generate.
The top 12 founder-led companies in Australia delivered a return of 400 per cent over the past five years, says Solaris Investment Management, compared with just 65 per cent across the ASX200. Blackwattle Partners says founder-led companies delivered excess returns of 18 per cent a year compared with the ASX 300. And this month a survey by The Australian Financial Review of 33 ASX-listed founder-led businesses found that 72.7 per cent had outperformed the broader market since listing.
