Australia – BRW young rich list: Loaded, and with plenty more in common
OCTOBER 28 2016 – by Rachel Browne
If you’re planning on joining the ranks of Australia’s young rich listers, it helps to be male, tech savvy and university-educated – and live in Melbourne.
An analysis of the top 25 performers in the BRW Young Rich List for 2016 reveals men dominate, with only two women making it in.
Both female entrants – Cyan Ta’eed and Melanie Perkins – work in tandem with their respective male partners, Collis Ta’eed and Cliff Obrecht.
Tech entrepreneurs are the clear winners in this year’s list withAtlassian co-founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar top of the heap with $4.68 billion.
The pair, both 36, met while studying business information technology at the University of NSW, which has produced more young rich listers in the top 25 than any other institution.
While a number of the young rich listers have multiple qualifications from a range of organisations, UNSW has educated five in the top 25, including Cannon-Brookes and Farquhar.
Ori Allon, worth $316 million thanks to his real estate technology disrupter Compass, gained a PhD in engineering from the university.
Collis Ta’eed, who, with wife Cyan is worth $184 million, did a bachelor of science at UNSW before undertaking post graduate study at the University of Technology, Sydney, and then launching Envato, a network of websites with more than 6 million members.
Another UNSW alumni is Simon Clausen, number 6 on the list with $391 million in bank account, who attended the Australian Graduate School of Management before becoming involved in a variety of tech businesses.
Technology trumps property among the top 25 with 14 of the rich-listers involved in tech businesses providing a range of services from email marketing, retail, entertainment to graphic design.
After Cannon-Brookes and Farquhar, the next biggest earners are another Sydney pair, Dave Greiner and Ben Richardson, worth $543 million due to the success of their company Campaign Monitor.
Greiner and Richardson, aged 38 and 37 respectively, both studied information and communication technology at the University of Wollongong before launching their business 12 years ago.
The wealthiest property baron on the list is Paul Blackburne, a Perth developer whose expertise in building luxury apartment complexes has netted him $483 million.
While Perth has historically been associated with entrepreneurs, it is under-represented in the top 25 with only two rich listers hailing from the Western Australian capital.
The majority of young rich listers are based in Melbourne, with 10 of the top 25 calling the Victorian capital home, followed by Sydney which is home to eight. Four are based overseas.
Young rich listers have to be aged 40 or under to be in contention for the list. With eight 40-year-olds in the top 25 this year, 2017’s list is likely to look vastly different. Fifteen members of the top 25 are in their 30s, with an average age of 35.6.
There are only two 20-somethings in the top 25: graphic design entrepreneur Melanie Perkins, who, at 29, is worth $124 million with her partner Cliff Obrecht, and Sean Tomlinson, a 28-year-old whose software businesses have netted him $156 million.
Source: http://www.theage.com.au/business/innovation/brw-young-rich-list-loaded-and-with-plenty-more-in-common-20161027-gscc9a.html