Australia’s top 10 richest people includes Nicola Forrest solo and Richard White for first time
Australia’s 10 wealthiest people are worth a cool $250bn combined, with the first appearance of a controversy-plagued magnate on this year’s The List - Richest 250.
They’ve made $20bn between them this year, and welcome a new female billionaire in her own right to their ranks - and technology magnate who has defied months of controversies to enjoy a massive rise in his fortune.
It is boom time for Australia’s richest billionaires, with our 10 wealthiest founders and business leaders worth almost a cool $250bn combined this year - up from $230bn in 2024.
The top 10 features two significant movements: the arrival of billionaire Nicola Forrest with her wealth officially split from husband Andrew Forrest, and the first appearance by technology boss Richard White.
Mrs Forrest places seventh on the 2025 edition of The List - Australia’s Richest 250 with an estimated $16.06bn fortune.
She is one of three women in the top 10, alongside Gina Rinehart and Melanie Perkins. The trio control a combined $76bn wealth.
Mrs Forrest is forging ahead with her own philanthropy plans via her Coaxial Foundation, which will use income from her business arm, Coaxial Ventures, to back initiatives to help children and Australian Families.
Coaxial Ventures owns 50 million shares in iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group, founded by Forrest’s husband Andrew Forrest.
Mr Forrest places eight on The List with a $15.01bn fortune.
The pair split in 2023 and while most of their fortune is jointly held, Coaxial is in Nicola’s name only and accounts for the difference in estimated wealth between the two.
While they have said they will not divorce, the two also have an equal ownership of the private Tattarang business empire that spans cattle holdings, brands including R.M.Williams, Perth commercial property and other investments.
Meanwhile, a string of negative headlines and corporate governance disputes over the past year has certainly not dented Mr White’s wealth.
It reached a record $14.82bn - up from $9.72bn, and enough for the WiseTech Global founder to place 9th on the 2025 edition of The List, which is published in full on Friday by The Australian.
Mr White’s fortune would have been even higher had $3bn not been wiped off his WiseTech shares in February, when he made a dramatic comeback to the company’s leadership after four directors quit in a day.
He had previously stepped down as chief executive last year following a string of accusations regarding him trading sex for business advice with several women.
On Wednesday, a WiseTech board review into his conduct found a “number of the matters are serious in nature, and that such conduct is not acceptable and must not be repeated”.
In a statement, Mr White said he “understands the importance of his role in creating and influencing the culture of the business, and the seriousness of his actions.”
Mining magnate Ms Rinehart tops this year’s edition of The List with an estimated $46.34bn fortune. Her estimated wealth falls this year from $50.48bn in 2024, due to an overall drop in the value of iron ore mining firms around the world, but Hancock Prospecting remains a financial powerhouse.
It made a bumper $5.57bn profit from $14.73bn revenue in 2024, mostly from iron ore mining at its Roy Hill flagship mine and exports – though the business also owns assets such as the Rossi Boots and Driza-Bone brands, commercial and agricultural property and a billion-dollar mining share portfolio.
Mrs Rinehart dubbed Hancock “the most successful private company in Australia’s history” when she announced the profit results late last year.
More recently, she gave away dozens of prizes each worth $100,000 to workers across her resources, energy, agriculture and workwear divisions in late February, to mark her 71st birthday.
Second on The List is Sydney apartment doyen Harry Triguboff, still in charge of his Meriton at the age of 92.
His wealth rises to a record $31.48bn as he continues to rail against slow government processes and procedures regarding building planning approvals.
“It (the housing crisis) will eventually get better,” Mr Triguboff says.
“But it should not have gotten this bad. The politicians have rules and they stick to them. The rules don’t work in every area, though, and can be good for some projects and terrible for others.
“We all need to get together and work out how we can produce more housing, including looking at where people will buy homes, where the builders can build them, and if the banks will lend.”
Mr Triguboff oversees a powerhouse business that has more than 10,000 units in development and another 15,000 apartments it owns and rents out. The 62-year-old business now has annual revenue of more than $1.6bn and owns 23 serviced apartment blocks to make it Australia’s biggest owner of hotel rooms, plus 32 build-to-rent apartment blocks and 34 retail shopping precincts and 20 childcare centres.
Software billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes is fourth at $29.45bn, just ahead of his Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar in fifth at $29.19bn.
Mr Farquhar left his management role at Atlassian last year but maintains a big shareholding.
Both regularly sell down their stakes, with Mr Cannon-Brookes shelling out more than $300m on Sydney mansions and ploughing more than $1bn into Grok, his venture investment business. Mr Farquhar sold his Sydney mansion for $130m last year, after next door neighbour Mr Cannon-Brookes reportedly lodged objections to Mr Farquhar’s planned overhaul of the Point Piper property.
Cardboard box making and manufacturing magnate Anthony Pratt is fifth with $28.57bn wealth. He is back in favour in the US, where he is courting the attention of President Donald Trump.
Pratt was the second biggest individual donor to a prominent Trump-supporting super political action committee (PAC) before the US election. That $US10m cheque followed the awarding of a green card that allows him to move to the US on a more permanent basis, but maintain Australian citizenship.
He will also keep his executive chairman role at his family’s Australasian Visy, but otherwise is eyeing big growth opportunities in the US at his Pratt Industries.
Sixth is Queenslander Clive Palmer, who is ploughing some of his estimated $22.32bn fortune into his new Trumpet of Patriots political party.
Melanie Perkins and husband Cliff Obrecht, the 37 and 39-year-old co-founders of online graphics giant Canva, round out the top 10 with shared wealth of $14.02bn.
Canva is still a market darling now valued at $US32bn after some share sales by investors and staff last year, an increase of about $US6bn.
The 2025 edition of The List – Australia’s Richest 250 is published on Friday in The Australian and online at www.richest250.com.au
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