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Billionaires boom: Richest Aussies benefit from virus

Eliza Bavin
·Personal Finance Editor
·2-min read
Gine Rinehart, Anthony Pratt, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest
Australia's richest only added to their fortunes last year (Source: Getty)

Australia’s top 200 richest people got even richer last year as COVID-19 boosted technology and commodity prices.

The Australian Financial Review Rich List revealed that for the second year in a row Gina Rinehart is the richest Aussie with a massive $31.06 billion fortune.

Rinehart has the soaring price of iron ore to thank for her billions, as does number two on the list Andrew Forest.

Forest is the CEO of Fortescue Metals and has a net worth of $27.25 billion, according to the list.

But it’s the big names in tech that have moved their way up the list with the founders of Atlassian and Canva showing in the top 10.

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Atlassian founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar took out places three and five respectively. Atlassian is an Australian software company that develops products for software developers.

Business boomed for them last year with remote work becoming a more mainstream concept.

Canva founders Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht cracked the Rich List top 10 for the first time as their graphic design platform collected active users on par with the population of Italy.

Infographic showing the total wealth of the richest Australians
(Source: AFR)

The number four spot went to Anthony Pratt (and family) worth just over $20 billion. Pratt has made his fortune in the US owning a packaging and paper company.

With more Aussies online shopping Pratt’s business boomed last year, which repurposes the delivery boxes we throw out into new ones.

Property moguls took out three of the top 10 spots as record low interest rates keep the property boom going.

The Meriton founder Harry Triguboff once again leads the property packs, taking sixth spot on the list with a fortune of $17.27 billion.

The 200 individuals and families on the 2021 list are worth a combined $479.6 billion fortune, up from $424 billion six months earlier.

The top 10 richest Aussies:

  1. Gine Rinehart - $31.06 billion

  2. Andrew Forrest - $27.25 billion

  3. Mike Cannon-Brookes - $20.18 billion

  4. Anthony Pratt and family - $20.09 billion

  5. Scott Farquhar - $20 billion

  6. Harry Triguboff - $17.27 billion

  7. Clive Palmer - $13.01 billion

  8. Hui Wing Mau - $11.7 billion

  9. Frank Lowy - $8.51 billion

  10. Melanie Perkinds and Cliff Obrecht - $7.98 billion

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