Worthview Group publishes ‘news’ story about 17yo entrepreneur who claims a $89.4bn fortune

We almost deleted this email from a 17-year-old self-proclaimed “Sir” - who claimed to have twice the fortune of Gina Rinehart - until we had a closer look.

Now that’s an impressive net worth.

Billionaires are an eclectic bunch.

While some embrace a high public profile – buying trophy properties and ploughing tens of millions into political campaigns – others employ a more subtle strategy, secreting their wealth in mazes of trusts and offshore vaults.

Seldom however, does a billionaire email a newsroom asking for a profile piece regaling their successes.

It’s even more rare such a note would come from “Australia’s youngest billionaire”, a 17-year-old from regional Queensland, purportedly with a “sir” honorific.

Now while this kid – who we won’t name because he’s a kid – clearly has spunk, much of his story was so easily discredited, the whole lot would usually be swiftly deleted.

For example, one of his websites said he had an estimated net worth of $89.4bn – more than twice the estimated wealth of Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart.

Gina Rinehart - who has never emailed Citybeat. Picture: Supplied

ASIC records show the enterprising chap doesn’t direct any companies, doesn’t appear to own any properties and his registered address is a home owned by two older people with the same surname – aka Mum and Dad.

There’s also no record of him ever being bestowed with the honour of “Sir”.

So why did we even bother checking? Because his email included a link to where one “news” organisation had already profiled him.

Now we at Citybeat don’t make a habit of calling out other media’s missteps – glass houses and all that – but we’re willing to make an exception for this one.

The Rockhampton News happily espoused the lad as an “automotive, aerospace, and real estate development” entrepreneur who had “launched three companies across diverse industries”. Interesting.

The website is owned by Gold Coast-based Worthview Group, which has similar websites and weekly newsletters on the GC and in Townsville, Redland City, Toowoomba and Mackay.

It’s previously made headlines for allegedly using AI to regurgitate legitimate journalists’ work to serve up on its “independent local news, tech, business and critical city insights website”.

Worthview did not respond to Citybeat’s questions about what steps they took to verify the accuracy of what they’d published about our young “billionaire” - although the article was taken down after we asked them.

Maybe the answers were already in the site’s fine print, which said Worthview accepted no liability for its “accuracy, currency, completeness, quality, reliability or suitability”.

At least that part was true.

Surf legend’s HQ on block

The former headquarters of iconic surfboard maker Mount Woodgee Surfboards, part of Gold Coast surfing heritage for over 50 years, has hit the market for the first time in more than three decades.

The high-profile block at Currumbin Waters has been the birthplace of thousands of boards, which have been ridden by some of the biggest names in the sport, including ex-pro surfer Bede Durbidge (pictured) also a co-founder of Gold Coast’s Balter beer.

Bede Durbidge. Cartoon by Brett Lethbridge

Durbidge is also on the team at Mt Woodgee, helping design and refine the popular craft.

The company was named after the mountain peak on the NSW-Queensland border where founder Nick Anagnostou shaped its first boards underneath a tumbledown Queenslander.

Mt Woodgee will continue to peddle its boards from down the road at its newer premises.

The 1768 sqm dual-titled site, at 25-27 Stewart Road, Currumbin Waters, is being marketed by Jackson Rameau and Matt Taylor of RWC Gold Coast and will go to auction on July 3.

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Originally published as Worthview Group publishes ‘news’ story about 17yo entrepreneur who claims a $89.4bn fortune