Sell-off hits Atlassian duo’s billions

Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, two of Australia’s richest people, have lost billions in estimated wealth as investors punish their tech company.

Atlassian founders Mike Cannon-Brookes, left, and Scott Farquhar in their Sydney headquarters.

Two of Australia’s richest people, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, had their paper wealth shredded by billions of dollars in just minutes on Friday morning, when the company they co-founded, Atlassian, was dumped by investors who were less than impressed with lower-than-expected earnings and a weak outlook.

Mr Cannon-Brookes and Mr Farquhar have held on to a combined 42 per cent of Atlassian, which they started 20 years ago and grew into Australia’s largest technology company.

The pair ranked fourth and fifth respectively on The List: Australia’s Richest 250 in March, worth $26.2bn and $25.99bn, but had their wealth plummet by a combined $5bn on Friday due to a heavy sell-off in Atlassian stock.

Atlassian CEO and founder Mike Cannon-Brookes at Sydney’s Pyrmont after purchasing a minority share in the Utah Jazz NBA team. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

As of Friday, the pair are worth an estimated $14bn each, down more than $10bn since March.

Investors punished the company, which makes software for workplace collaboration, for missing revenue and earnings expectations, as tech companies struggle amid worsening macroeconomic conditions.

Atlassian is not the only company to be hit in the recent tech downturn, with fellow billionaires Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, co-founders of start-up darling Canva, also suffering double-digit percentage drops to their estimated wealth.

Aside from running Atlassian, which employees almost 10,000 people, Mr Cannon-Brookes and Mr Farquhar have plenty of side projects to keep them busy. Mr Cannon-Brookes launched a bid for AGL with Brookfield in February and has spent about $300m on Sydney property, holdings in the NSW Southern Highlands and other real estate assets in recent years.

The tech entrepreneur and green activist is AGL’s largest shareholder, and has investments in payments technology outfit Tyro Payments, home-meals kit provider Marley Spoon and design marketplace provider Redbubble among others.

Mr Farquhar has a technology-focused investment fund, Skip Capital, led by wife Kim Jackson, and has property investments across NSW.