On-the-radar Richest 250 debutantes you need to know
Debutantes on The List are tech gurus, healthcare experts and some veterans of business who’ve made big money during the pandemic.
There are the tech gurus, storage kings and healthcare magnates who have burst onto The List: Australia’s Richest 250 for the first time this year.
Meet Australia’s newest most wealthy and successful business identities, the 21 individuals and their families who are worth a cool $14.5bn combined and rank among the country’s Richest 250 for the first time.
Read the full 2021 edition of The List: Australia’s Richest 250
They are emerging entrepreneurs who run global businesses from their backyard or others who have quietly accumulated their wealth for several years away from the spotlight of the listed company scene on the ASX.
Others have had huge years during COVID-19 and have seen their unknown stocks surge in value during perfect business conditions for their companies.
Here are the debutants on this year’s list:
49 Laurence Escalante ($2.15bn): The man behind Virtual Gaming Worlds, which is more profitable than Atlassian, Canva and Envato combined.
94 Sam Kennard & family ($1.27bn): This wing of the Kennard family owns Kennards Self Storage, which has net assets of more than $1.15bn on its balance sheet.
115 Nicholas Paspaley & family ($1.06bn): Pearls are synonymous with Paspaley, but the wider family group has extensive property, aviation and pastoral holdings.
122 Denis Wagner & family ($1.01bn): The Wagner family owns the Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport and heads a construction company.
137 Mitchell Harper ($863m): One half of the team who founded BigCommerce, the online website business that listed on the NASDAQ last year.
140 Eddie Machaalani ($853m): Mitchell Harper’s BigCommerce co-founder, who still holds a lot of shares in the company.
142 Andy Kennard & family ($839m): This side of the Kennard family owns the Kennards Hire business.
144 Tony Walls ($811m): The founder of ASX-listed Objective Corporation, which sells software and services to government agencies and departments.
186 David Tudehope ($617m): The CEO of Macquarie Telecom has enjoyed a big share price rise as the company focuses more on data storage services.
203 Fiona Brown ($569m): The co-founder of Dicker Data, which is surging in value from sales of computer software and hardware.
211 John Dib & family ($548m): Dib and his family run Metro Petroleum, which has 230 service stations around the eastern seaboard.
215 Ruslan Kogan ($543m): His Kogan.com e-commerce business now has more than 3m active users.
222 Andrew Bassat ($514m): The executive chairman of Seek is back on the Richest 250 as the online job classified business rises in value.
230, 231 Cathie Reid and Stuart Giles ($502m combined): Husband and wife team who made their fortune with the Epic Pharmacy chain and Icon Group cancer care business.
232, 233 Megan Wynne, Bruce Bellinge ($500m combined): Wynne is behind leading human services business APM, while Bellinge is a reproductive health specialist.
237 Larry Diamond ($486m): The founder of Zip Co, another ‘buy now, pay later’ sensation.
238 Karl Ye (479m): His GMP Pharmaceuticals makes healthcare products, dietary supplements and foods, combining for a $36m net profit last year.
247 Michael Gregg ($453m): His shares in logistics software firm WiseTech put him back on The List.
250 Bevan Slattery ($450m): A serial entrepreneur who has founded winners such as PIPE Networks, NEXTDC and Superloop.
Read the full 2021 edition of The List: Australia’s Richest 250
More Coverage
