Atlassian tax windfall lost in the clouds

Atlassian tax windfall lost in clouds

Hats off to billionaire software dude Michael Cannon-Brookes and his passionate dedication to the Aussie tech space.

“It’s a huge priority for us as a company,” the Atlassian founder told The Australian this week. “We spend a huge amount of time on that and it’s an essential part of our company,” the 35-year-old said as he smashed parochial haters of his US float plan.

Wanting to know more, calls yesterday to his automated switch in Sydney and San Fran sadly afforded only retro-style voicemail for Cannon-Brookes, who’s so committed to Oz he now owns two flash homes in Sydney’s east worth $20 million — one up from Seven’s David Leckie on Centennial Park’s Lang Road and one near Guillaume Brahimi’s Paddo restaurant.

A peek into Atlassian’s world reveals the powerful financial kick the cloud-loving company, co-founded with Scott Farquhar,is giving our nation.

The past year has seen a restructure which has moved the group’s ultimate holding company to Britain, where the tax rate is 23 per cent (30 per cent here).

In financial 2014, Atlassian earned revenue of $US215m ($300m) for an operating income of $US21m.

But $US19m in financing costs for the Aussie company slashed its bottom line to just under $US3m, on which Atlassian paid just $US159,000 in Aussie tax.

The American operations have lent the Aussie company $US1.1 billion at a commercial rate. So in financial 2014 the Oz end paid $US19m interest to its American brother — a drag on the Aussie taxable profit.

Happily, the ultimate British parent of both bits of Atlassian is doing much better, booking a $US22.2m pre-tax profit. At British rates that should have been a tax bill of $US5m, but it seems benefits, including a $US4.5m Aussie R&D deduction, cut the coin to the Brits to $US3.2m.

Walk like Egyptians

New ANZ boss Shayne Elliott looks like a mild-mannered Kiwi bean counter, but underneath that open-neck business shirt lurks a man used to riding finance’s wild tigers.

Between March 2005 and early 2008 he was chief operating officer of Egypt’s biggest investment bank, EFG Hermes, which did business with Gamal and Ala’a Mubarak, the sons of then-Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

After Mubarak was ousted, his sons and EFG’s co-CEOs were charged with insider trading over a 2007 bank sale. Margin Call does not suggest that Elliott was involved.

Great experience the globetrotting Elliott brought to ANZ when he joined in mid-2009 — itself a story revealing him as a fine fresco painter.

These days Elliott is doing his best to be a man of the people — tweeting Malcolm Turnbull-style tram snaps — but when ANZ recruiters found him he was holed up painting the walls of his “very tiny” Rome apartment. Elliott still owns the Roman real estate, but just like outgoing boss Mike Smith lives in Toorak, in a five-bedroom Edwardian pile owned by his wife.

Turnbull memories

While NSW Premier Mike Baird was calming terror-spooked Sydneysiders, the PM was honouring his commitment as lowly comms minister to launch an app letting retail investors bypass brokers to bid directly for share issues.

Even if his old shop Goldman Sachs doesn’t like the OnMarket Bookbuilds app, the PM does because it’s a world first, it’s techy and it’s “innovative”.

He loved it, with the only slightly awkward moment when the preso featured a hypothetical about buying shares in NSW’s electricity sell-off.

Dinosaurs present remembered how in 1997 keen young banker Turnbull told Goldies in NY he had the mandate for that one sewed up, only to have the deal run aground when the NSW Labor conference told then-premier Bob Carr no way.

On the levels

No longer on terror alert, Tony Abbott and warrior woman Peta Credlin were chatty on Tuesday at Sydney’s MLC Centre with Servcorp’s Alf Moufarrige.

It’s just the place to spy a former Liberal PM, with John Howard enjoying the harbour view from his level 53 digs.

MLC is half-owned by GPT and QIC, with Servcorp, which gave the Libs $86,500 in 2013-14, run from level 63. One office on 23 offers views from Hyde Park out to the east, but Abbott would have to endure life 30 levels under Johnny. Unlikely.

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