Atlassian tech giants lose $1bn in a day

Atlassian co-founders Mike ­Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar have lost close to a combined $1bn in a day.

Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes. Picture: Harold David

Atlassian co-founders Mike ­Cannon-Brookes and Scott ­Farquhar lost close to a combined $1 billion in a day, leading a group of wealthy Australians who had huge amounts wiped off their share values as markets fell across the world.

The duo, Australia’s youngest billionaires, have seen almost $3bn wiped off the paper value of their shareholding since the start of the month, as Atlassian has been caught in the selldown of many big US technology stocks.

Atlassian shares fell to $US67.12 each, the lowest level since late July yesterday morning (AEDT), after trading as high as $US98 in late September.

The value of the pair’s Atlassian stock fell $US343 million ($484m) each in one day.

They were joined in the loss column later in the day by others among Australia’s wealthy, as the likes of billionaires James Packer, Andrew Forrest and Michael Heine saw hundreds of millions of dollars wiped off the value of their shares.

Mr Forrest, the chairman of and biggest shareholder in Fortescue Metals Group, lost about $225m off the value of his shares.

The company said it shipped less iron ore last quarter than ­previously.

Mr Packer’s share in gambling and entertainment giant Crown Resorts fell by about $116m, while Richard White’s Wisetech Global stock was down $55m despite his logistics software company ­upgrading its profit guidance for the current financial year.

 

Other big rich-list losers were: Netwealth father and son co-founders Michael and Matt Heine, who were down $60m; Reg Rowe, whose stock in Super Retail Group fell $45m; and the Magellan Financial Group co-founders Hamish Douglass and Chris Mackay, who lost a combined $40m.

But the biggest fall was Atlassian, the software company co-founded by Mr Cannon-Brookes and Mr Farquhar.

Its stock fell as much as 7 per cent on the NASDAQ-listed software early yesterday.

Mr Cannon-Brookes and Mr Farquhar now have $US4.3bn ($6.07bn) worth of stock each for combined share wealth of $12.14bn. Atlassian shares remain up about 47 per cent since January 1, having risen 102 per cent in September.

Analysts covering the stock in the US still have several “buy” or “overweight” recommendations, including KeyBanc’s Alex Kurtz.

According to Bloomberg, Mr Kurtz said Atlassian’s recent fall had “created an improved entry point” for investors and that sell-off concerns were “overblown”.

Atlassian “should be a core holding for growth investors”, Mr Kurtz said.

The duo also has a string of private investments in several tech start-ups and has made a big splash in the high-end Sydney property scene after making record-breaking purchases of adjacent estates in Point Piper.

In September, Mr Cannon-Brookes made the $100m-plus purchase of Fairwater, the former seat of Sydney’s Fairfax family in the largest transaction in Australian residential history.

Mr Farquhar bought Elaine, also from members of the Fairfax family, for $71m in a record-breaking deal last year.