When the company’s troubled Iron Bridge mine blew its budget and fell behind schedule, executive chairman Andrew Forrest called a management meeting likened to the TV series’ “red wedding” scene.
Iron Bridge was much more than just another mine for Andrew Forrest. Its success is key to transforming Fortescue into one of the world’s largest iron ore producers. Bethany Rae
It was a meeting whispered about as Fortescue’s version of the “red wedding” scene from Game of Thrones, in which a slew of characters were killed off in one sitting. Fortescue’s executive chairman, Andrew Forrest, refers to it as “judgment day”, which in the Bible is God’s final sorting of people into the saved and the damned.
Appropriately, it took place in the “red cafe” at the company’s Perth headquarters, so named for its colour scheme. And it was a bloodbath. One person who was there says Fortescue’s chief executive at the time, Elizabeth Gaines, was in tears, while the rest of the company’s C-suite was rattled and emotional.
Primrose RiordanAssociate editorPrimrose Riordan covers private companies and family offices from the AFR's Sydney newsroom. Primrose was previously a correspondent for the Financial Times and covered foreign affairs and politics in Canberra. Primrose has won multiple awards for her journalism including from The National Press Club, SABEW in the US and Press Gazette in the UK. Message Primrose on Signal: https://tinyurl.com/PrimroseSignal Connect with Primrose on Facebook and Twitter. Email Primrose at primrose.riordan@afr.com
