Billionaire Scott Farquhar’s solo turn takes a twist as Mike Cannon-Brookes and ‘assassins’ show support in Canberra
A $29bn tech mogul's attempt to establish his post-Atlassian identity hit an awkward note when his co-founder watched him promote the rise of AI and then defend the company's latest job cuts, blamed on AI.
It was billionaire Scott Farquhar’s time to step into the spotlight solo, only for his co-founder and one-time closest friend and some “assassins” to show up.
Farquhar’s lunchtime speech at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday was notable in many ways.
It is not often someone worth about $29bn turns up to Canberra to speak publicly, call for Australia to become a global data centre hub, and also quietly lobby behind the scenes at Parliament House the night before.
Yet Farquhar’s trip to the national capital was also notable for who else turned up, who sat where and who was spotted trying to have a quiet chat away from the spotlight beforehand.
And it all unfolded as the man long known as one-half of the Atlassian technology success story now tries to carve out his own identity as a thought leader and industry authority.
In what was a very public show of support, Farquhar’s Atlassian co-founder and fellow billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes also turned up for Farquhar’s speech.
That appearance came after two weeks of coverage in The Australian revealing how the once inseparable tech bros have fallen out and the toxic culture within Atlassian, previously lauded as one of the best places to work in the world.
Cannon-Brookes walked into the NPC flanked by chief of staff Amy Glancey and his executive assistant Faye Stirling, revealed last week as being known as “the assassins” inside Atlassian for the power they yield on Cannon-Brookes’s behalf.
Especially in the wake of Farquhar’s departure in August last year from the co-CEO role, with numerous sources indicating he was less than impressed about their style.
Assassins don’t smile, and Glancey, Stirling and Cannon-Brookes looked solemn as they walked into the building.
Earlier, Glancey, Cannon-Brookes, Farquhar and Atlassian’s head of global public policy David Masters had been spotted together at a nearby cafe, Maple + Clove.
Inside the NPC, Cannon-Brookes and Farquhar were seated next to each other for lunch and looked like the tech bros they famously are.
Farquhar wore a black T-shirt, jeans and Converse sneakers; Cannon-Brookes a grey hoodie underneath a darker duffle coat, and hair swept back in his signature man bun style. Farquhar’s wife Kim Jackson was also there.
While there wasn’t riotous laughing and backslapping, Farquhar did refer to “my friend Mike” during his speech and noted how “thankful to him” he was about having the opportunity to go out and “do other things out there beyond Atlassian.”
By that, Farquhar mostly meant his role as chair of the Tech Council of Australia, a position that has helped see him gain an invite to the federal government’s Economic Reform Roundtable in three weeks’ time.
He used his platform on Wednesday to espouse the virtues of Australia becoming a global data centre hub, powered by renewable energy to “export megawatts as megabytes for potentially megabucks.”
There were also calls for fast-tracking digital apprenticeships, the fixing of outdated copyright laws and using technology to streamline and improve government services.
Yet not everything went to plan.
Much of Farquhar’s speech was devoted to the rise, and increasing importance of, artificial intelligence.
In a case of awkward timing, it came about two hours after The Australian’s Margin Call column revealed Cannon-Brookes had on Wednesday morning cut 150 staff from Atlassian to replace them, in large measure, with AI.
As Cannon-Brookes quietly looked on, it was left to Farquhar to answer questions about the move.
“We’re always changing the number of people we have at Atlassian on a regular basis,” Farquhar said, adding there will be thousands of jobs created there while “rebalancing small ones”.
It was almost like he was still at the helm.
As for Cannon-Brookes, he posed for a quick after-speech photo with Farquhar taken by his EA Stirling with her phone, before the now solo Atlassian CEO beat a hasty retreat via a side door and into a waiting car.
Proving it could be hard for Farquhar to be his own post-Atlassian man just yet.
To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register
Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout