Scott Farquhar to step down as Atlassian co-CEO

Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar will step down as co-CEO after 23 years, leaving Mike Cannon-Brookes to lead the Australian software giant, in a surprise move announced at the company’s third-quarter results.

Farquhar, who said in a statement that he wanted to spend more time with his family, focus on philanthropy, and help the technology industry globally, will step down on August 31 and remain on Atlassian’s board.

Scott Farquhar, co-CEO and co-founder of Atlassian, will step down in August.Credit: Paul Harris

“While it’s a difficult decision to step away, I do so knowing Atlassian is exceptionally positioned to take hold of the massive opportunities at its feet,” he said.

“We have a strong leadership team, and great momentum around cloud, enterprise, and now, AI,” he said.

Atlassian, known for its workplace software Jira, Confluence and Trello, is a $79 billion company, has more than 300,000 customers globally, and runs a fully geographically spread workforce, as it was one of the most aggressive companies to enact a remote-work policy during the pandemic.

The co-founders, who met at university, founded the business together in 2001. It’s now listed on the Nasdaq.

Co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes (right) will become Atlassian’s sole CEO, while Farquhar will remain on the board.Credit: Getty Images

“The contribution Scott has made at Atlassian is impossible to quantify,” said Cannon-Brookes.

“Atlassian would not be the company it is today without Scott. I am truly grateful to have had him by my side every day for the last 23 years.”

In a letter to Atlassian employees, Farquhar said the company was in the best position it had ever been in.

“It’s been 23 years since Mike and I started Atlassian, fresh out of university. We got to work on the heels of the dot-com bust and unbeknownst to us, we were kick-starting the Australian tech industry,” he said.

“Today, rockets don’t launch into orbit without Atlassian’s software.”

Farquhar is the father of three sons. Apart from Atlassian, he is involved in the venture capital sector through Skip Capital, which is headed by his wife Kim Jackson. Skip was an early investor in local tech heavyweight Canva and fintech Airwallex. The couple also founded the Skip Foundation, which funds health, environmental and equal opportunity initiatives, and encourages companies towards philanthropy.

Farquhar and Cannon-Brookes each have an estimated fortune of more than $15 billion, and have each held on to about 20 per cent of the company they started more than 20 years ago.

During an earnings call, the co-founders said they had always shared and rotated responsibilities equally, so Cannon-Brookes was not being left in charge of anything he couldn’t handle.

“We’ve taken turns taking the bins out in our first office, so we’ve done every job equally over that period of time,” Farquhar said.

“We have shared and divvied up those responsibilities between us. I don’t think there is anything Mike hasn’t done before that he’ll be picking up.”

Atlassian shares slipped 8 per cent in extended trading after closing at $US198.41 in New York. The company is down 17 per cent this year.

“While the executive transition is a surprise, it should not impact the operations as the company is in strong footing,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sunil Rajgopal.

As part of its results, Atlassian announced $US1.2 billion ($1.84 billion) in revenue for the quarter, up 30 per cent year-over-year, driven by subscription revenue growth of 41 per cent year-over-year. It drove record free cash flow of $US555 million, up 59 per cent year-over-year.

Profit was 89¢ per share, beating the 62¢ projected by analysts. Still, the company added customers more slowly than anticipated.

with Bloomberg

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