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Rich List 2024

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Gold Dinner chairwoman Monica Saunders-Weinberg and her husband and committee member Richard Weinberg.

How the wealthy daughters of Westfield co-founder John Saunders invest

Previously unreported filings for Terrace Tower, owned by the late businessman’s family, reveal assets worth $1.85 billion. But it has been a bumpy two years.

  • Primrose Riordan and Ronald Mizen
Kerry Stokes, Lindsay Fox, Monica Saunders-Weinberg, Betty Saunders-Klimenko and Imelda Roche.

Rich Lister wealth secrets revealed after 30-year loophole ends

Two years after removing an exemption that allowed Australia’s richest families to keep details of their private companies secret, their financials are filtering through.

  • Ronald Mizen and Tom McIlroy
Nicola Forrest and John Hartman at the site of the Uungula wind farm near Wellington in NSW.

Hartman exit leaves separated Forrests occupying Tattarang board

The longest surviving member of the Forrest inner circle, John Hartman, has left the board of the private company that holds most of the couple’s combined fortune.

  • Brad Thompson and Peter Ker
Sam Prince started the fast-growing Mexican restaurant chain Zambrero after finishing medical school.

Rich Lister’s Mexican chain locks in 400th location

Sam Prince’s will open Zambrero’s 300th store on Wednesday. Its next 100 locations are locked in.

  • Yolanda Redrup
Laurence Escalante built Virtual Gaming Worlds into a multibillion-dollar business. But competition and regulatory pressures are mounting.

Online casino mogul gets into lotteries as profits surge

Revenues at Virtual Gaming Worlds, which pioneered the use of a loophole to offer casino-like games with cash prizes in the US, has soared above $6 billion, accounts show.

  • Updated
  • Primrose Riordan
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September

Andrew Hagger and Guy Debelle in new advisory firm for the ultra rich

The startup, Famille Capital, has been quietly building up a team over the past year.

  • Primrose Riordan
Declan Sherman went from Sydney  to New York to Brazil with Macquarie before starting his own business.

This ex-Macquarie banker toned up Brazil – and made a fortune

When Declan Sherman moved to the Latin American country with the investment bank, he was inspired to show the locals a new way to exercise.

  • Yolanda Redrup

August

Stake co-founder Matt Leibowitz.

This trader spotted a ‘really big gap’ – and made a fortune

Stake’s Matt Leibowitz loved his job as a derivatives trader, but when his friends started asking how to invest in US stocks, he saw an opportunity.

  • Yolanda Redrup
Gabriel Jakob in his office in Sydney.

This immigrant quietly made $550m. He has tips for making $1b

Gabriel Jakob is one of the most successful Australian entrepreneurs you’ve probably never heard of. Now he’s telling his story, but not posing for a full photo.

  • Yolanda Redrup
Brad Pillinger is one of the country’s top real estate agents.

From dropping pamphlets to selling $85m homes

His father was the first person in Australia to sell a house for $1 million. Brad Pillinger reflects on 30 years selling the country’s most expensive homes.

  • Yolanda Redrup
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Sam Kroonenburg shares his story on the How I Made It podcast.

The one thing this Rich Lister says every founder needs to remember

Sam Kroonenburg built a company from his bedroom, with him and his brother Ryan both making about $500 million. But Sam, 40, is doing what he can to avoid the trappings of wealth.

  • Julie-anne Sprague
Terry Snow grew up in Canberra and took pride in developing the national capital.

Vale Terry Snow, legendary property developer with a generous heart

The hard-headed businessman, responsible for much of modern Canberra, was also a soft-hearted philanthropist who loved equestrian horses and the arts.

  • Michael Bailey

July

The Warwick brothers’ blockchain-based game Illuvium is launching on Thursday.

Inside the $26b journey of this Young Rich Lister’s crypto game

The Warwick brothers’ blockchain-based game Illuvium has finally launched, marking a new chapter in the wild ride of their billion-dollar company.

  • Yolanda Redrup

How exquisite timing and meditating shaped this Rich Lister’s fortune

After deciding a career in law wasn’t for him, Kerry Harmanis turned to prospecting in WA. That decision led to the $3.1 billion sale of Jubilee Mines.

  • Julie-anne Sprague
Young Rich Lister and founder of LMCT+ Adrian Portelli.

They’re young, rich, and in the French Riviera

Cashed-up, glamorous young Aussies have descended on Saint-Tropez and Monte Carlo, spending their time on superyachts and at $1500-plus per night hotels.

  • Yolanda Redrup
Tan Kueh worked at Macquarie and BlackRock before joining Grok Ventures as its chief executive earlier this year.

Grok Ventures boss woos wealthy families for Sun Cable

The chief executive of Mike Cannon-Brookes’ private vehicle is plotting a pivot – opening it up to outside investors.

  • Primrose Riordan
Perth’s Laurence Escalante who built Virtual Gaming Worlds into a multibillion-dollar business.

Perth billionaire Escalante battles copycats and hostile letters in US

The businessman created a lucrative gambling market stateside from scratch. Now competition and regulation may force the company to change tack.

  • Primrose Riordan

Cars, boats and houses won’t make you happy, says this Rich Lister

Property developer Paul Blackburne landed on the Rich List with an estimated $536 million fortune. There’s a success trap entrepreneurs need to be mindful of, he says.

  • Julie-anne Sprague

June

There are more varieties of digital coins than any investor could care to count.

CoinSpot’s billionaire owner grabs huge dividend payout

But the company, one of the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has reported a near 75 per cent slide in profit in the last financial year.

  • Primrose Riordan
Shaun Bonett is the Rich Lister who controls Prezzee, a gift card provider.

Rich Lister’s ‘billion dollar’ company faces $79m loss

Shaun Bonett bought into Prezzee in 2015 and has slowly increased his control over the business. New figures reveal it lost $79 million in the 18 months to December 31.

  • Primrose Riordan
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 Tash Oakley at Ursula’s in Paddington.

The day everything changed for Young Rich Lister Tash Oakley

For the 33-year-old who made her millions in swimsuits and Pilates, her business was literally her body, then suddenly it simply couldn’t take it any more.

  • Lucy Dean
Atlassian co-founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar are still bullish on Atlassian’s outlook

Why Cannon-Brookes, Farquhar are down $15b in just two months

Concerns about Atlassian’s cloud growth rate have triggered a share sell-off, which has wiped a combined $15.4 billion off the valuations of its co-founders.

  • Yolanda Redrup
WiseTech co-founder Richard White.

The Rich Lister who avoids risk at all costs

Richard White wanted to be a rock ‘n’ roll star. He ended up developing software for companies in logistics and is now the 11th wealthiest person in Australia.

  • Julie-anne Sprague
Georgia Geminder is carving her own path in business with Gem Oral Care.

This Rich Listers’ daughter is forging her own path in business

Georgia Geminder launched her own toothpaste at the start of 2020 after three years of research. Now she has found a new “boring” category to transform.

  • Yolanda Redrup
Amazon gift cards in the United States are no longer available on the Prezzee platform.

Shaun Bonett’s Prezzee has a costly run-in with Amazon

The gift card payments group controlled by the billionaire has had to stop selling the popular vouchers in the US, undermining a key revenue stream.

  • Primrose Riordan

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/leadership/brw-lists