Federal election: Billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes unmasked as unlucky $1m election punter

Australia’s fourth-richest person has been identified as the mystery figure who blew $1m on a mega election bet.

Tech mogul, climate activist and Morrison government critic Mike Cannon-Brookes has been unmasked as the unlucky election punter who blew $1 million on a mega-bet that Bill Shorten would become prime minister.

Solving a three-year riddle which has been the subject of intrigue in political circles, News Corp can reveal the Atlassian billionaire was the mystery figure who placed the eye-watering bet on Mr Shorten as the then Labor leader steamed towards what appeared to be certain victory in the 2019 poll.

Political insiders with knowledge of the bet said Mr Cannon-Brookes – who is Australia’s fourth richest person with a fortune of more than $26 billion – made the extraordinary wager in an attempt to offset donations he had made to support pro-climate candidates.

Mike Cannon-Brookes. Picture: John Feder/The Australian.

The day before the election the vehement Coalition critic posted “Let’s not f--- it up Australia”, on social media, including the hashtag “ClimateElection” and a link to a post by activist Greta Thunberg.

A shattered Mr Cannon-Brookes shared his devastation at Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s boilover victory the morning after the poll in a stream of emotional social media posts beginning with a crying emoji.

“Landed in Sydney. Wow,’’ he wrote, telling his followers to “be sad, (and) hug your families.”

“How does one process and think about it,’’ he wrote.

“Don’t get angry, get deeper, more thoughtful. People voted fairly. Why didn’t we connect?”

He suggested voters were scared, and put economics before climate and themselves ahead of science.

“We cannot deny but we can think & learn. As f’ing (sic) hard as that will be.” he wrote.

One of Mike Cannon-Brookes’ Tweets.

Apologising for not being “more lucid”, the billionaire said he needed “more espresso and time” and wrote: “We tried. We will try again. We can’t give up.”

Laying the bet at $1.23, Mr Cannon-Brookes stood to make $230,000 if Labor triumphed in the poll.

Mr Cannon-Brookes donated $50,000 in 2019 to fellow billionaire Simon Holmes a Court’s Climate 200 campaign.

In the lead up to the impending 2022 election he has also been a vocal supporter of Climate 200 backing of the so-called “teal” candidates who are trying to dethrone Liberals in former blue ribbon seats, including Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.

Former Labor leader Bill Shorten with wife Chloe speak to supporters after his defeat in the 2019 federal election. Picture: David Caird

On Tuesday he retweeted a post by Kooyong candidate Monique Ryan which accused the government of starting a climate scare campaign and has recently also retweeted multiple posts by Simon Holmes a Court.

A spokeswoman for the billionaire yesterday said he was on holidays and unavailable for comment.

Mr Cannon-Brookes, who founded software sensation Atlassian with university mate Scott Farquhar in 2002, has splashed out more than $200 million on Sydney real estate and last year became the South Sydney Rabbitohs co-owner with Russell Crowe and James Packer.

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