Australia’s Richest 250: Canva founders up $3.6bn, Atlassian and Gina Rinehart drop
Atlassian founders have lost $19bn in six months, while Canva's creators added $3.6bn to their fortune, reshaping Australia's wealth rankings among the top billionaires.
It is the tale of two young tech duos going in opposite directions.
Atlassian co-founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar have lost a combined $19bn from their fortunes in the past six months, to send them tumbling down the list of Australia’s wealthiest people.
In the same period, Canva co-founders Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht are the biggest movers among the top 25 richest in the country, adding $3.6bn to their paper fortune as the investment world waits for the couple to float their online graphics giant.
An analysis of the top 25 fortunes on The List – Australia’s Richest 250 six months after The Australian published its 2025 edition in March shows about $16bn has been wiped from the wealth of some of our biggest names in business.
Cannon-Brookes and Farquhar have each lost about $9bn from the value of their Atlassian stock, with the software firm’s share price dropping about 22 per cent since March and 29 per cent since January 1.
Canva’s valuation has rocketed in the same period, with the company now worth $US42bn ($63bn) after it launched an employee share tender offer and added JP Morgan Asset Management as a new investor in August.
Estimates by The Australian show Cannon-Brookes and Farquhar, both 45, falling from third and fourth position on The List in March to now be fifth and sixth with estimated wealth of $19.95bn and $19.36bn respectively.
Atlassian shares on the NASDAQ are now trading back at the levels of five years ago, and the company has significantly underperformed relative to its software peers. Cannon-Brookes is now at the helm of the company, with Farquhar stepping down from the co-chief executive role in August last year.
The pair maintain their big shareholdings and have kept up with their strategy of slowly selling down parcels of shares to increase liquidity in the stock. It usually yields them each about $US1.3m every few days but last week they both sold $US84m of stock on the same day.
Meanwhile, Perkins and Obrecht, 38 and 39, are now worth a combined $17.68bn to be equal seventh on The List if it was recalculated this week. They were equal 10th with wealth of $14.02bn in March.
Mining magnate Gina Rinehart still leads The List, with estimated wealth of $45bn, and property legend Harry Triguboff maintains second position at $32bn.
Paper and packaging giant Anthony Pratt is another big mover, vaulting from fifth position in March to third with an estimated $30bn fortune as his Pratt Industries keeps growing in the US and Visy in Australia maintains its market-dominant position.
Pratt Industries is now the largest individually owned manufacturing company in the US, with more than 70 factories. Two more are opening later this year, in Georgia and South Carolina.
The biggest downward move is Alan Wilson and his family, who control the Reece plumbing empire.
Reece shares plunged in August after it said it expected the US housing market, which accounts for half of its revenue, to stay weaker for longer. Wilson and his family’s fortune is down $5.17bn in the past six months.
There have been several other big moves in the past six months that could markedly change the face of the next edition of The List when it is published in early 2026.
New billionaires could include 37-year-old US-based investor Robert Hilmer, who sold part of his funds management firm Goanna Capital in June to give it a $1.3bn valuation, and long-time Technology One shareholder John Mactaggart, who has ridden the booming share price of the Brisbane software company.
Mecca founders Jo Horgan and Peter Wetenhall should also join the billionaire ranks after the revelation of previously secret financial accounts showed their cosmetics empire to be far more profitable than previously thought – and that the pair have collected $600m dividends in the past decade.
Rokt founder Bruce Buchanan will likely also move up the ranks.
His fortune was estimated at $635m to place him in 250th position in March. Investors in the e-commerce software business increased its valuation by 28 per cent earlier in September, meaning Buchanan’s paper fortune could be approaching $800m as rumours grow that Rokt is headed for a stockmarket listing next year.
The other big mover is at the top end of The List, with Canva co-founder and chief product officer Cameron Adams rising to 26th position from 31 in March after the Canva revaluation. Adams’ shareholding is now worth an estimated $6.19bn to have him on the cusp of the top 25.
The Chemist Warehouse co-founders Jack and Sam Gance and Mario Verrocchi have all increased their wealth as parent company Sigma Healthcare shares keep rising. Sam Gance sold $480m of Sigma stock in August.
Wisetech founder Richard White’s wealth is down about $2.5bn following a tumultuous period at the helm of his logistics software business. Wisetech acquired US business e2open for $3.2bn in May. More recently he sold $120m shares in early September.
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