Aussie billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes’ $300m property portfolio set to be carved up after shock split
Another billionaire Aussie couple have announced their split, and big questions remain over who gets what from their $300m property portfolio.
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The $300 million property portfolio of Australian tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and wife Annie, including heritage-listed mansions, farmland and tropical islands, is set to be carved up in the wake of their separation.
At the weekend, a source close to the couple confirmed that they had separated after 13 years of marriage.
In a statement obtained by The Australian, the source said: “They’re both focused on their children as their number one priority right now.”
“They ask that their privacy is respected.”
It is understood, the newspaper reports, the pair had separated more than a month ago.
Over more than a decade together, the couple amassed one of Australia’s most impressive property portfolios, worth an estimated $300m and spanning from the leafy suburbs of Sydney’s east to the sprawling NSW southern highlands, even to an island in Far North Queensland.
Now the dozens of multimillion-dollar properties are set to be split between the pair, including, perhaps, the jewel in the portfolio’s crown: the couple’s record-breaking $100m family home, Fairwater in Point Piper.
The Atlassian co-founder purchased the 1.12 hectare harbourside estate – the largest private property on the Sydney Harbour – in 2018, ending more than a century of Fairfax family ownership. It was, at the time, the most expensive house sale in Australia.
A day after making the historic purchase, Cannon-Brookes spent $17 million on the nearby heritage-listed ‘Verona’ mansion, another property in the Double Bay collection – which includes a Mediterranean-style villa called ‘SeaDragon’ (bought for $7.05 million in 2016) and a $9 million beachside semi, Domain reports.
That was not the end of the eastern suburbs spending spree, he has also bought an apartment adjoining Fairwater (worth $4.3 million), and in 2019 spent $12 million on a neighbouring old Fairfax estate.
Then, in 2020, the billionaire splashed $18 million to buy the former home of the German consulate, located in the neighbouring suburb of Woollahra. There were plans to renovate the massive brick building to be the headquarters for Annie’s fashion label ‘House of Cannon’, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The Cannon-Brookes portfolio also features a handful of secluded properties in Sydney’s Northern Beaches, including spending $24.5 million on the Pittwater mansion ‘Casa Paloma’ built by supermodel Jennifer Hawkins and husband Jake Wall. The sale was an area record.
Other properties in the northern collection include another on Casa Paloma’s street (for $6.8 million) and a $8.7 million home on Palm Beach’s Snapperman’s Beach (bought in 2013) as well as, reportedly, three accessible only by boat – a $2.55 million fisherman’s cottage on Great Mackerel Beach, the $8 million Bangalla estate on Scotland Island, and $4.65 million property at Coasters Retreat.
The NSW Southern Highlands are also a popular place for the couple to property shop, reportedly spending an estimated $90 million on a number of sprawling properties.
Their first buy in the area was the 390ha Joadja Creek Farm for $3.3 million in 2016. That was followed by the purchase of the 45ha Rosehill Farm for $5.35 million in 2018 and, a year later, the 155ha Widgee Waa estate for $15 million – matching the Highlands record.
They took a fancy to Burradoo, spending $10 million on the 12ha Millview Stud and another $15.25 million on the nearby 120ha Think Big Stud – which Mike reportedly now runs as a regenerative agricultural enterprise.
In 2021, the Cannon-Brookeses also bought the 15-room Cooliatta mansion in Burradoo for $3.9 million, as well as a luxury manor called Wattle Ridge for $13 million.
Last year, they bought more farming land in Kangaloon, near the Rosehill Farm property, buying 57ha for $8 million.
And just last month, the pair reportedly bought a cosy Bowral trophy home, Hathaway, for $3 million.
Meanwhile, fashion designer Annie made a major property splash last year, purchasing an island in Far North Queensland for $24 million.
She purchased Dunk Island, a 150ha slice of paradise located about 4km off the coast of Mission Beach on the Cassowary Coast. The island has an existing 160-room resort which has been closed since early 2011 after the island was smashed by Cyclone Yasi.
Annie reportedly had plans to restore it to the tropical paradise it once was, but in the 12 months since her purchase, there has been little information released, and it is unknown what will happen to it now after the couple’s split.
And while there is little point speculating what arrangements have been or may be made in the separation, it is worth noting that it could see Annie emerge with a sizeable share not only of the property portfolio, but of her ex-husband’s speculated $16.1 billion fortune.
Originally published as Aussie billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes’ $300m property portfolio set to be carved up after shock split
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