Mike Cannon-Brookes | |
|---|---|
 Cannon-Brookes in 2018 | |
| Born | Michael Cannon-Brookes November 1979 (age 44) New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Education | Cranbrook School |
| Alma mater | University of New South Wales |
| Occupation | Co-CEO of Atlassian |
| Employer |
|
| Known for | Co-founding Atlassian |
| Net worth |
|
| Board member of | Atlassian |
| Spouse(s) | Annie Todd |
| Awards |
|
| Website | atlassian |
Michael Cannon-Brookes (born November 1979) is an Australian billionaire business magnate who is the co-founder and co-CEO of software company Atlassian.
Since 2018, he has been involved in the Australia-Asia Power Link, a huge electricity infrastructure project to be developed in the Northern Territory by Sun Cable in a collaboration with Twiggy Forrest.
Cannon-Brookes was born in November 1979,[3] the son of a global banking executive, also named Mike, and his wife, Helen.[4]
He attended Cranbrook School in Sydney,[5] and graduated from the University of New South Wales with a degree in information systems on a UNSW Co-op Scholarship.[6]
With Scott Farquhar, Cannon-Brookes is the co-founder and co-CEO of Atlassian, a collaboration software company. The pair started the company in 2002, shortly after graduating from university, funding it with credit cards.[7] They claim to have founded Atlassian with the aim of earning the then-typical graduate starting salary of A$48,000 at the big corporations without having to work for someone else.[8][9]
In March 2022, it was reported that Cannon-Brookes and billionaire Andrew Forrest had invested in the Sun Cable project,to build a solar and battery farm 12,000 hectares (120 km2) in size at Powell Creek, Northern Territory, and a power-cable to link it to Singapore (via Indonesia) leaving Australia at Murrumujuk beach.[10][11]
In January 2023, Sun Cable went into administration owing to disagreements between Cannon-Brookes and Forrest. In May 2023, Cannon-Brookes' company Grok Ventures outbid Forrest and others to buy the liquidated company.[12][11]
Cannon-Brookes is an adjunct professor at the University of New South Wales' School of Computer Science and Engineering.
In December 2020, Cannon-Brookes bought a minority stake in NBA team Utah Jazz, along with Qualtrics co-founder Ryan Smith.[7]
Cannon-Brookes is a major investor in Australian publicly listed energy company AGL.[13]
In September 2020, it was revealed that Cannon-Brookes was listed on a Chinese Government "Overseas Key Individuals Database" of prominent international individuals of interest for China.[14]
Cannon-Brookes is married to Annie Todd and they have four children.[15] They first met at a Qantas lounge while flying from Sydney to San Francisco.[16] Cannon-Brookes and Todd lived in Sydney's eastern suburbs in Centennial Park.[9] In 2018 they bought Fairwater, Australia's most expensive house for approximately A$100 million, next door to Scott Farquhar's A$71 million Point Piper harbourside mansion, Elaine. Cannon-Brookes also acquired the 1923-built heritage residence Verona, designed by architect Leslie Wilkinson and located in Double Bay, for A$17 million.[17] The house previously belonged to New Zealand philanthropist Pat Goodman. Prior to that, in 2016, Cannon-Brookes had bought the A$7.05 million SeaDragon house, built in 1936, also designed by Wilkinson and updated by architect Luigi Rosselli.[18] His Centennial Park home sold for A$16.5 million.[19] In 2019 he purchased a house near Fairwater for A$12 million.[20]
In July 2022, Annie Cannon-Brookes made a deal to buy Dunk Island off Mission Beach, Queensland. Reportedly, the transaction was between A$20–25m, with the intent to create a nature reserve and to revitalise the resort.[21] In July 2023, the Australian Financial Review reported that the couple were separating.[16]
Cannon-Brookes and Farquhar were recognised as the Australian IT Professional of the Year award in 2004, and Australian 2006 Entrepreneur of the Year. He is also a member of The Forum of Young Global Leaders.[6]
In 2016, his net worth was estimated by Forbes on the list of Australia's 50 Richest people as US$1.69 billion;[22] by BRW Rich 200 as A$2.00 billion;[23] and by the Sunday Times Rich List as £906 million.[24] As of May 2023[update], the Australian Financial Review estimated his net worth was A$19.01 billion.[25] Meanwhile, in 2021, his net worth was assessed at US$13.7 billion by Forbes and at US$11.2 billion by Bloomberg.[2]
| Year | BRW Rich 200 |
Forbes Australia's 50 Richest |
Sunday Times Rich List | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Net worth (A$) | Rank | Net worth (US$) | Rank | Net worth (£) | |
| 2013[26][27] | 190 
|
$0.25 billion
|
n/a | not listed | ||
| 2014[28][29] | 35
|
$1.07 billion
|
n/a | not listed | ||
| 2015[30][31] | 42
|
$1.14 billion
|
25
|
$1.10 billion
|
||
| 2016[23][22][24] | 18
|
$2.00 billion
|
14
|
$1.69 billion
|
£906 million
| |
| 2017[32][33] | 17
|
$2.51 billion
|
10
|
$3.40 billion
|
||
| 2018[34] | 12
|
$5.16 billion
|
5
|
|||
| 2019[35][36][37] | 6
|
$9.63 billion
|
5 
|
$6.40 billion
|
||
| 2020[38] | 5
|
$16.93 billion
|
||||
| 2021[1][2] | 3
|
$20.18 billion
|
$13.70 billion
|
|||
| 2022 | 3
|
$27.80 billion
|
||||
| 2023[25] | 6 
|
$19.01 billion
|
||||
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Icon | Description |
|
|
Has not changed from the previous year |
|
|
Has increased from the previous year |
|
|
Has decreased from the previous year |
