Aussie tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes to split from wife of 13 years
One of Australia’s wealthiest couples has made a shock announcement regarding their marriage.
Mike Cannon-Brookes, one of Australia’s richest men, has announced he is separating from his wife after more than a decade of marriage.
The Australian Financial Review reported on Saturday the tech billionaire was separating from fashion designer Annie Cannon-Brookes.
The couple married in 2010 and have lived with their four children in a $12m Fairwater home since 2019.
Worth an estimated $19b, the Connecticut-born Cannon-Brookes rose to prominence after co-founding software company Atlassian in 2002.
Cannon-Brookes and co-founder Scott Farquhar have since been lauded as one of the greatest success stories in the Australian tech industry.
In 2022, Cannon-Brookes invested in one of Australia’s largest renewable energy projects Sun Cable alongside billionaire Andrew Forrest.
The project, which involved a 120km2 solar and battery farm in the Northern Territory, went into voluntarily administration in January 2023.
More recently, Atlassian has faced set backs with the company slashing about 5 per cent of its workforce, just months after a hiring blitz.
In an internal note to staff which was also released on Atlassian’s website Cannon-Brookes and Farquhar said the decision was a “very hard day in our 20 year history”, and that they were “deeply sorry” to have to make the job cuts.
“In the spirit of open company, no bulls**t, here’s our honest take on how these decisions came to be,” the pair wrote.
“To be clear, this decision is not a reflection of Atlassian’s own financial performance.
“We will be reinvesting in roles that better support our priorities.”
Cannon-Brookes also faced criticism late-last year due to Atlassian’s continued business ties with Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
In September, Cannon-Brookes and Farquhar wrote on the company’s website that “Atlassian stood with Ukraine”.
“As a company, as citizens of a global community, and as human beings, we stand with Ukraine,” the post said.
In addition to their business holdings, Cannon-Brookes and wife Annie also amassed a wide property portfolio.
Their Fairwater estate is widely considered one off the most expense property sales in Australian history.
In June, the couple paid $14.25 million to buy a home in Newport, on Sydney’s northern beaches.
The property neighbours the $24.5 million estate they purchased in 2020.
It comes after the Cannon-Brookes joined a number of investors in buying Dunk Island on Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef in 2022.
Cannon-Brooke’s attended Cranebrook School before graduating from UNSW, and is the son of banking executive Mike Cannon-Brookes.
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