top 20 billionaires in australia

Australia’s billionaire landscape in 2025 reflects the nation’s economic strengths in mining, real estate, and technology. Resource wealth, led by iron ore magnates such as Gina Rinehart and Andrew Forrest, remains foundational but highly sensitive to global commodity prices. In contrast, the rapid rise of technology founders behind companies such as Atlassian and Canva highlights Australia’s growing influence in the worldwide software and intellectual property sectors. Real estate, driven by Harry Triguboff, continues to generate stable, long-term wealth, while manufacturing and retail leaders demonstrate success across diverse sectors. Together, these billionaires represent a dynamic economy where traditional resource power coexists with innovative digital enterprises.

1. Gina Rinehart

(Hancock Prospecting - Mining): The Iron Ore Queen

Gina Rinehart, the executive chairperson of Hancock Prospecting, is Australia’s wealthiest person, with a substantial fortune almost entirely derived from the nation’s vast iron ore deposits in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. Her wealth is a legacy fortune, rooted in the discoveries of her father, Lang Hancock, who pioneered the first major iron ore finds. However, it was Gina Rinehart’s strategic leadership and financial acumen, particularly in the 1990s and early 2000s, that transformed the company from a complex legal entity into a globally significant, revenue-generating mining powerhouse. The core engine of her wealth is the Roy Hill mine, a large, integrated project in which Hancock Prospecting holds a majority stake.

This project is characterised by a highly efficient, end-to-end supply chain, from pit to port, enabling the low-cost export of high-grade iron ore to major steel producers in Asia. This business model allows Hancock Prospecting to generate substantial profits even when iron ore prices are volatile, thereby ensuring a reliable and stable dividend stream. In 2025, while her wealth may have fluctuated due to cooling iron ore prices, her strategic diversification into the Australian agricultural sector, particularly beef production, further solidifies her financial position. Rinehart’s success is a study in converting vast, high-quality mineral rights into sustained, intergenerational wealth through industrial discipline and market timing.

2. Harry Triguboff

(Meriton - Real Estate): High-Rise Harry

Harry Triguboff is rightly known as the “King of Apartments” and “High-Rise Harry” for his immense wealth built through Meriton Group, Australia’s largest residential property developer and apartment builder. His fortune, estimated at nearly A$30 billion in 2025, is a direct reflection of Australia’s perennial demand for high-density urban housing, particularly in eastern seaboard cities such as Sydney, Brisbane, and, increasingly, Melbourne and Canberra. Triguboff pioneered the model of complete vertical integration in property development, controlling every stage from land acquisition and architectural design to construction and final property management. This control ensures cost efficiency and the ability to maintain construction timelines, giving Meriton a potent competitive edge. Crucially, Meriton’s strategy involves retaining a significant share of newly built apartments, converting them into one of the country’s largest portfolios of short- and long-term rental properties, branded as Meriton Suites. This substantial rental income stream provides a dependable cash flow that acts as a financial buffer against the cyclical nature of apartment sales. After more than six decades in the business, Triguboff remains the managing director, an active and vocal participant whose development activities continue to shape the residential skyline of Australia’s major cities significantly.

3. Anthony Pratt & Family

(Visy - Manufacturing): The Packaging Titan

Anthony Pratt and his family control a substantial fortune through Visy Industries in Australia and Pratt Industries in North America, making them global leaders in paper, packaging, and recycling. Their success is a unique outlier on a list dominated by resources and tech, demonstrating the enduring power of essential manufacturing and industrial services. Pratt Industries is a dominant corrugated packaging company, serving the massive consumer goods and logistics markets.

The core of their business model is built on sustainable vertical integration and circular economy principles: they control the entire cycle from collecting, sorting, and re-processing waste paper and recyclable materials through their Visy Recycling division, to producing new corrugated paper through Visy Pulp & Paper, and finally manufacturing packaging, cans, and cartons via Visy Packaging. This closed-loop system is highly cost-efficient and aligns perfectly with the global corporate drive towards sustainability.

Anthony Pratt, who assumed leadership and spearheaded the aggressive expansion into the American market, has invested billions in building new, state-of-the-art recycling and manufacturing capacity in the US, contributing significantly to the recent exponential growth of the family’s multi-generational industrial fortune.

4. Scott Farquhar

(Atlassian - Technology): The Software Strategist

Scott Farquhar, along with Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founded Atlassian, a globally dominant enterprise software company, creating one of Australia’s greatest self-made tech fortunes. Atlassian is famous for its suite of collaboration and project management tools, including Jira (for software development teams), Confluence (for knowledge sharing), and Trello. The foundation of their financial success lies in pioneering a revolutionary, highly scalable business model: selling powerful, low-cost software directly to technical teams online, entirely bypassing traditional enterprise sales forces. This low-touch, high-volume approach drove rapid global adoption.

Farquhar’s wealth is tied to his significant shareholding in the publicly listed company, whose colossal valuation is driven by its deeply entrenched role in the workflow of millions of global businesses and its high-margin subscription revenue. Beyond Atlassian, Farquhar is known for his extensive property investments and his commitment to philanthropy, with a particular focus on addressing educational inequality and backing technology for social impact. His business journey from a university project to a billion-dollar platform is a key case study in the modern Australian economy.

5. Mike Cannon-Brookes

(Atlassian - Technology): The Tech Investor and Activist

Mike Cannon-Brookes is the other half of the Atlassian founding duo, sharing a trajectory and source of wealth similar to Scott Farquhar. His personal wealth is rooted in his foundational stake in the enterprise software company. However, Cannon-Brookes has strategically leveraged his liquid tech fortune into becoming one of Australia’s most high-profile activist investors and climate philanthropists. He has publicly and financially committed to accelerating Australia’s transition to renewable energy, making significant investments in large-scale solar projects and venture capital funds focused on decarbonisation technologies.

His most famous intervention was a successful campaign to influence the board and direction of AGL Energy, Australia’s largest carbon emitter, advocating for the faster closure of its coal-fired power stations. This deployment of technology wealth for environmental and social change distinguishes him. Cannon-Brookes’ ongoing business focus involves driving Atlassian’s strategic expansion into larger enterprise markets while using his considerable influence and capital to shape the national conversation on sustainability and climate action actively.

6. Melanie Perkins & Cliff Obrecht

(Canva - Technology): The Design Disruptors

Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, the married co-founders of Canva, represent the pinnacle of Australia’s rapidly ascending, consumer-focused technology wealth. Canva is a revolutionary, intuitive graphic design platform that has simplified visual communication for hundreds of millions of users globally, from individuals to Fortune 500 companies.

The company’s astronomical private valuation and its resulting fortune stem from a masterful “freemium” business model: offering a robust, powerful free product that encourages viral, grassroots adoption, leading to seamless conversion of professional teams and power users into high-margin premium and enterprise subscribers. Their success is a global case study in designing for universal accessibility and scale.

The couple has famously committed to donating the vast majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes through the Canva Foundation, under their “two-step plan,” demonstrating a profound dedication to leveraging their commercial success to advance global social good, particularly in combating poverty and promoting education.

7. Clive Palmer

(Mineralogy - Mining/Diversified): The Political Miner

Clive Palmer is a highly controversial figure whose immense wealth, estimated at over A$20 billion in 2025, is primarily rooted in his ownership of Mineralogy, a private resource company. The bulk of his fortune derives from substantial, long-term royalty payments secured through complex agreements and legal battles arising from the use of his mineral leases in the Pilbara for iron ore mining by major Chinese and Australian firms. This reliable royalty stream provides a substantial, consistent cash flow that underpins his financial stability, independent of his mining operations.

Palmer is perhaps equally famous for his high-spending, disruptive forays into Australian federal politics, frequently self-funding his political party’s campaigns with multi-million dollar advertising blitzes. His business empire also includes interests in nickel, coal, and tourism (such as the Palmer Coolum Resort), though the iron ore royalties remain the core pillar of his net worth. His wealth is a complex intersection of immense natural resource holdings and the active deployment of capital for both commercial and political purposes.

8. Nicola Forrest

(Fortescue - Mining/Philanthropy): The Purpose-Driven Investor

Nicola Forrest’s substantial wealth originates from her significant, long-held shareholding in Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), the iron ore giant co-founded with her former husband, Andrew Forrest. While her financial foundation is in the same cyclical commodity market as FMG, her focus has increasingly centred on directing her capital through the Minderoo Foundation, one of Australia’s largest philanthropic organisations. Her strategic deployment of capital is purpose-driven, with her investment arm, Coaxial Ventures, specifically channelling returns into high-impact charitable and social initiatives focused on early childhood education, indigenous empowerment, tackling modern slavery, and ocean conservation.

In 2025, the Foundation continued to announce massive global commitments, including funding efforts for global greenhouse gas emissions tracking and tropical forest protection, cementing her role as a major force in deploying inherited commodity wealth to drive systemic, high-impact social and environmental change.

9. Andrew Forrest

(Fortescue Metals - Mining/Green Energy): The Philanthropic Green Pioneer

Andrew Forrest, widely known as “Twiggy,” is the founder of Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), which he built into a world-leading, low-cost producer of iron ore, effectively creating a third force in the highly concentrated Pilbara iron ore market. His massive wealth is a direct result of FMG’s high-volume operations and strategic market positioning. Critically, Forrest has been aggressively transitioning his focus and deploying significant capital towards green energy and decarbonisation, transforming FMG into a major player in renewable hydrogen and green technologies through Fortescue Future Industries (FFI).

This monumental shift aims to replace entirely the fossil fuels used in FMG’s operations by 2030 (a “Real Zero” commitment) and to establish FFI as a global producer of green hydrogen and green iron. This multi-billion-dollar bet on a worldwide green energy future, backed by one of the nation’s largest personal philanthropic commitments through the Minderoo Foundation, makes his fortune one of the most strategically active and complex in Australia.

10. Richard White

(WiseTech Global - Technology): The Logistics Software Architect

Richard White’s fortune, now in the billions, is a testament to the power of niche, mission-critical enterprise software. He is the founder and executive chairman of WiseTech Global, which developed CargoWise, a highly integrated and essential software platform used globally by logistics providers and freight forwarders. White, a former musician and sound engineer who became a self-taught programmer, built his company by meticulously addressing the complex regulatory, documentation, and operational needs of the world’s supply chains.

WiseTech’s success is built on a highly “sticky,” utility-like subscription model, where its software becomes deeply embedded in the core operations of major logistics firms, creating high barriers to exit for customers. His wealth, tied to the high market valuation of WiseTech, reflects the profound global reliance on efficient supply chain management and the profitability of owning the digital infrastructure that streamlines complex international trade. In 2025, WiseTech continues to expand its functionality, aiming to be a core infrastructure platform rather than a niche vendor.

11. Cliff Obrecht & Melanie Perkins

(Canva - Technology): The Design Disruptors

Cliff Obrecht and Melanie Perkins, co-founders of Canva, are two separate billionaires who share a connected, self-made fortune. Obrecht, serving as Chief Operating Officer, was instrumental in developing a scalable business structure, securing critical early capital, and leading the commercial growth that propelled Canva from a simple idea to a multi-billion-dollar global design powerhouse.

The rapid adoption of Canva, which now serves hundreds of millions of users worldwide, is due to its low barrier to entry and its ability to empower non-designers. Their wealth, tied to their dominant equity stake in the private company, has rapidly grown, surpassing many legacy fortunes. The commitment Obrecht and Perkins share to donate their wealth through the Canva Foundation is a defining characteristic of their economic legacy, channelling their immense commercial success toward large-scale global philanthropic objectives.

12. Kerry Stokes

(Seven Group Holdings - Diversified): The Media and Industrial Mogul

Kerry Stokes’ diverse wealth is managed through his controlling stake in Seven Group Holdings (SGH). SGH is a conglomerate that strategically integrates two distinct yet critical sectors of the Australian economy: media and industrial services. While his media interests, including the Seven Network and print assets, are high-profile, the bulk of his recent wealth creation and stability comes from the industrial segment. This includes WesTrac (one of the world’s largest Caterpillar equipment dealers, servicing the mining industry) and Coates Hire (Australia’s leading equipment hire business).

This dual structure provides a defensive financial position: the reliable, high-margin demand for maintenance, parts, and equipment hire, driven by Australia’s ongoing mining and infrastructure boom, offsets the volatility and pressures faced by traditional media assets. This resilience in the face of economic cycles is the key to the durability of Stokes’ multi-billion-dollar fortune.

13. Michael Dorrell

(Stonepeak - Infrastructure Investment): The Global Finance Titan

Michael Dorrell represents a less conventional source of Australian wealth, having built his immense fortune as the Australian-born co-founder and former CEO of Stonepeak, a New York-based private equity firm. Stonepeak is a global juggernaut focused on infrastructure and tangible assets, managing tens of billions in assets under management. Dorrell leveraged his extensive experience in international finance, honed at firms like Macquarie, to create a firm that invests in and manages critical, long-term, cash-flow-rich infrastructure assets globally, including fibre-optic networks, data centres, transport, and energy infrastructure.

His wealth is derived from his significant equity stake in Stonepeak and the firm’s successful investment track record, particularly its ability to identify and scale essential digital and physical infrastructure assets. His success underscores the emergence of Australian talent as a dominant force in international finance and private investment.

14. Frank Lowy

(Finance/Retail Property): The Shopping Centre Architect

Sir Frank Lowy’s enduring fortune was founded on his pioneering role in creating the modern shopping centre model. He co-founded the Westfield Group in 1960, which grew into a global giant in the ownership, development, and management of shopping centres across Australia, the US, and Europe. Lowy’s initial wealth was secured by his long-held stakes in the property assets that underpinned his retail empire. His major financial inflexion point occurred with the strategic breakup and eventual sale of his global assets, resulting in a vast, highly liquid personal fortune.

Although the Westfield brand continues under different ownership, his wealth remains managed through his private investment vehicle, The Lowy Family Group. This group holds diversified investments in finance and property development. It is a major funder of the Lowy Institute, a globally respected foreign policy think tank, cementing his legacy as a defining figure in Australian retail and global public policy.

15. Vivek Sehgal

(Samvardhana Motherson - Auto Parts): The Global Manufacturer

Vivek Sehgal’s fortune is derived from his role as the co-founder and chairman of Samvardhana Motherson Group (SMG), a major, diversified global auto parts manufacturer with annual revenues exceeding $25 billion. Although he is an Indian-Australian citizen, his wealth is closely tied to the global automotive industry. SMG is a tier-one supplier of components, including complex wiring harnesses, mirror systems, and polymer components, to virtually every major global automotive company.

His success lies in a relentless, acquisition-driven global expansion strategy that seamlessly integrates acquired companies to build a complex, multinational manufacturing behemoth. SMG’s massive scale and critical role in the global automotive supply chain, particularly as the industry transitions to electric vehicles, ensure a reliable, high-volume revenue stream, thereby securing Sehgal’s position as a major industrial billionaire.

16. Alan Wilson & Family

(Reece - Retail): The Plumbing and HVAC Dynasty

Alan Wilson and his family control a massive fortune through their ownership of the Reece Group, Australia’s largest supplier of plumbing, bathroom, heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC), and irrigation products. The company’s business model is based on dominating the fragmented trade market, supplying essential materials to the construction and maintenance sectors. Reece’s success is rooted in its highly efficient, trade-focused distribution network and large-scale inventory.

The family strategically expanded the business into the U.S. market through the major acquisition of MORSCO in 2018, thereby transforming Reece into a global player. Alan Wilson stepped down as Chairman in 2022, but the Wilson family retains a majority stake (over 55% in 2025), ensuring strategic stability. This wealth is anchored in the reliable, long-term demand for essential building supplies, which is closely linked to the steady, underlying growth of the construction cycles in Australia and North America.

17. Ivan Glasenberg

(Glencore - Mining/Commodities Trading): The Global Commodities Trader

Ivan Glasenberg, a South African-born Australian citizen, derives his substantial wealth from his significant long-held equity stake in Glencore, one of the world’s largest diversified commodities-trading and mining firms. Glasenberg served as CEO from 2002 to 2021, and was the architect of Glencore’s transition into a publicly traded behemoth and the massive merger with Xstrata. His fortune is a direct reflection of the volatile, high-stakes global trade in metals, minerals, and energy.

Glencore’s model uniquely combines large-scale mining operations across assets such as copper, coal, and zinc with a massive, high-margin trading division, allowing it to profit from both the physical extraction and the price volatility of commodities worldwide. As of 2025, Glasenberg remains Glencore’s largest individual shareholder, ensuring his wealth continues to track the global performance of the industrial commodity markets.

18. Jack Gance & Sam Gance

(Australian Discount Retail): The Chemist Warehouse Founders

Jack Gance and Sam Gance, along with Mario Verrocchi, are the co-founders of the Chemist Warehouse Group, Australia’s dominant discount pharmacy retailer. Their fortune is rooted in revolutionising the retail pharmacy sector by pioneering a “big-box” discount model that offered deep price cuts on non-prescription goods, fragrances, and over-the-counter medicines, operating with superior logistics and marketing. This approach disrupted the traditional small-scale chemist model.

Their financial zenith was reached in 2024/2025 with the proposed public listing via a merger with Sigma Healthcare, which clearly revealed the colossal, underlying value of their national retail footprint and highly efficient supply chain, elevating both Gance brothers to multi-billionaire status based on their equity holdings. Their success is a story of transforming a regulated industry into a dominant, high-volume retail powerhouse based on scale and price.

19. Mario Verrocchi

(Chemist Warehouse - Retail): The Retail Pharmacy CEO

Mario Verrocchi, a qualified pharmacist, is the CEO and a major partner in the Chemist Warehouse Group, sharing the immense wealth generated by the company’s retail disruption with the Gance brothers. Verrocchi was instrumental in developing the operational and strategic model of the discount pharmacy chain, helping to scale the business from a single store to a national phenomenon with hundreds of outlets.

His fortune, estimated to exceed that of the Gance brothers due to his ownership structure, has been significantly solidified by the highly valued public listing. Verrocchi’s wealth is a testament to the profitability of dominating the mass-market retail health and beauty sector through superior logistics, aggressive pricing, and a highly recognisable national brand that captures significant Australian consumer spending.

20. Sam Hupert

(Pro Medicus - Technology): The Health Tech Visionary

Dr Sam Hupert, a medical doctor, is the co-founder and CEO of Pro Medicus, a highly successful, globally focused Australian health technology company. His immense wealth derives from his significant shareholding in the company, whose valuation has risen sharply in recent years. Pro Medicus’s primary product, Visage 7, is a cutting-edge, ultra-fast image viewing and archiving software for radiology.

The key to its success is its ability to transmit massive medical images quickly over the cloud, a critical requirement for large healthcare networks in the US, which accounts for approximately 90% of the company’s revenue. Hupert’s business strategy has been to secure large, long-term, multimillion-dollar contracts with major U.S. hospital systems and health networks. This niche dominance in mission-critical radiology software makes his fortune one of the most profitable and strategically important in the Australian tech sector.

Kalyan Jewellers - Kalyan Jewellers shares fall 14% for the ninth straight session as gold prices rise and institutional selling outweigh strong Q3 performance.

Kalyan Jewellers Shares Tank 14% in Continued Downtrend

Indian Rupee - Rupee slides to an all-time low of 91.73 amid heavy FPI outflows, tariff concerns and rising global risk aversion.

Indian Rupee Crashes to Record Low Amid Risk-Off Global Mood

Trump Withdraws Greenland Tariffs After Reaching NATO Deal

BitGo Raises $212 Million in Landmark Stock Market Debut

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the current primary driver of wealth for Australia's richest person, Gina Rinehart?

The primary driver remains the massive volume of high-grade iron ore extracted and exported by Hancock Prospecting's Roy Hill mine and other projects. Her fortune's value is fundamentally linked to global demand and the price of iron ore, a commodity essential for steel production in Asia.

How do Atlassian and Canva generate such large wealth compared to other tech companies?

Both companies, co-founded by Australian billionaires, generate massive wealth through highly scalable, low-touch software models (Jira/Confluence and Canva Pro/Enterprise). Their success is based on acquiring millions of users globally with minimal upfront cost and converting a high percentage of them into profitable, recurring subscription revenue.

What strategic asset diversification provides financial stability for mining magnates such as Andrew Forrest?

While Forrest’s wealth is rooted in iron ore (FMG), he is strategically deploying massive capital into the Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) division, aiming to create a global green energy and hydrogen business. This move provides a long-term strategic pivot away from fossil-fuel-linked commodities and a potential future revenue stream.

What business model innovation allowed the Chemist Warehouse founders (Gance and Verrocchi) to become billionaires?

They innovated by introducing a "big-box" discount retail model to the highly regulated pharmacy sector. By focusing on volume, efficient supply chain logistics, and heavily discounted non-prescription goods, they captured a massive share of the Australian retail health and beauty market.

How does Michael Dorrell’s wealth reflect a new trend in Australian global finance?

Dorrell's wealth is sourced from Stonepeak, a US-based private equity firm he co-founded, which specialises in global infrastructure investment. This reflects a trend of high-calibre Australian financial talent leveraging international capital markets to invest in long-term, essential assets like digital infrastructure and energy transport worldwide.

Billionaire In the Australia

Names

Industry

Places

New South Wales | Victoria | Western Australia | Queensland

top 20 billionaires in australia

1. Gina Rinehart

(Hancock Prospecting - Mining): The Iron Ore Queen

2. Harry Triguboff

(Meriton - Real Estate): High-Rise Harry

3. Anthony Pratt & Family

(Visy - Manufacturing): The Packaging Titan

4. Scott Farquhar

(Atlassian - Technology): The Software Strategist

5. Mike Cannon-Brookes

(Atlassian - Technology): The Tech Investor and Activist

6. Melanie Perkins & Cliff Obrecht

(Canva - Technology): The Design Disruptors

7. Clive Palmer

(Mineralogy - Mining/Diversified): The Political Miner

8. Nicola Forrest

(Fortescue - Mining/Philanthropy): The Purpose-Driven Investor

9. Andrew Forrest

(Fortescue Metals - Mining/Green Energy): The Philanthropic Green Pioneer

10. Richard White

(WiseTech Global - Technology): The Logistics Software Architect

11. Cliff Obrecht & Melanie Perkins

(Canva - Technology): The Design Disruptors

12. Kerry Stokes

(Seven Group Holdings - Diversified): The Media and Industrial Mogul

13. Michael Dorrell

(Stonepeak - Infrastructure Investment): The Global Finance Titan

14. Frank Lowy

(Finance/Retail Property): The Shopping Centre Architect

15. Vivek Sehgal

(Samvardhana Motherson - Auto Parts): The Global Manufacturer

16. Alan Wilson & Family

(Reece - Retail): The Plumbing and HVAC Dynasty

17. Ivan Glasenberg

(Glencore - Mining/Commodities Trading): The Global Commodities Trader

18. Jack Gance & Sam Gance

(Australian Discount Retail): The Chemist Warehouse Founders

19. Mario Verrocchi

(Chemist Warehouse - Retail): The Retail Pharmacy CEO

20. Sam Hupert

(Pro Medicus - Technology): The Health Tech Visionary

Featured Articles

Kalyan Jewellers Shares Tank 14% in Continued Downtrend

Indian Rupee Crashes to Record Low Amid Risk-Off Global Mood

Trump Withdraws Greenland Tariffs After Reaching NATO Deal

BitGo Raises $212 Million in Landmark Stock Market Debut

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the current primary driver of wealth for Australia's richest person, Gina Rinehart?

How do Atlassian and Canva generate such large wealth compared to other tech companies?

What strategic asset diversification provides financial stability for mining magnates such as Andrew Forrest?

What business model innovation allowed the Chemist Warehouse founders (Gance and Verrocchi) to become billionaires?

How does Michael Dorrell’s wealth reflect a new trend in Australian global finance?

Billionaire In the Australia

Names

Industry

Places