List of the 200 wealthiest individuals and families in Australia
The Financial Review Rich List, formerly known as the BRW Rich 200, is a list of Australia's two hundred wealthiest individuals and families, ranked by personal net worth published annually in "The Australian Financial Review Magazine", a supplement of "The Australian Financial Review", published by Nine Publishing. The list provides a short summary on some of the known business activities of the individuals and families, together with commentary on how their ranking has changed from the previous year, if listed.
The list was historically released annually in May or June in a special issue of the "Business Review Weekly (BRW)", published by Fairfax Media. The final hardcopy issue of "BRW" was published in November 2013, and between 2014 and March 2016, the list was published online only. In March 2016 the "BRW Rich 200" was published in hardcopy in "The Australian Financial Review Magazine" (or "AFR Magazine"), and published online on the "Financial Review" website. In 2017, the list was renamed as the "Financial Review Rich List", published in both print and online. The most recent list was published in May 2023.
In 2023, the entry mark for the 200 richest individual was A$690 million – an increase of A$100 million on the 2021 entry mark. The wealthiest individual in the 2023 list was Gina Rinehart, estimated to have a personal net worth of A$37.41 billion. Rinehart held the mantle of Australia's wealthiest individual between 2011 and 2015; and was also the wealthiest individual in every year since 2020, when her net worth was assessed at A$28.89 bn. Rinehart succeeded Anthony Pratt and family, who held the mantle of Australia's wealthiest individual between 2017 and 2019, and also in 2009. Pratt succeeded Harry Triguboff who topped the list in 2016, when it was estimated he had a personal net worth of A$10.62 billion.
Nine individuals and/or families have made every list; including Maurice Alter, Lindsay Fox, John Gandel, John Kahlbetzer, Solomon Lew, Frank Lowy, Alan Rydge, Kerry Stokes, and Harry Triguboff.
In 2014 fourteen women and 186 men made the "BRW Rich 200" list; and by 2017 the number of women had increased to fifteen women; increased to nineteen women (either jointly or severally) in the list published in 2018; in 2019, twenty-six women were included on the 2019 Rich List, representing 13 percent of the total list; in 2020, the number of women included on the list, either jointly or severally, increased to 30 women; and increased again to 39 women on the 2021 list; representing 19.5 percent of the total list. It 2023, the number of women decreased to 36, the first decrease in many years.
Background and history.
The "Financial Review Rich List" was first published in 1984 as the "BRW Rich 100", with an entry point of A$10 million, that profiled 144 people and 20 families.
In 2008 it was the first time in more than 20 years that Kerry or James Packer had not headed the list. Andrew Forrest was listed as the richest person in Australia, with a net worth estimated at A$9.41 billion, with James Packer listed third with A$6.1 billion. In 2009 Pratt was top of the list with A$4.3 billion. In 2010, the founder of Westfield, Frank Lowy, who has appeared on the list every year, was Australia's richest individual with an assessed personal net worth of A$5.04 billion. Rinehart held the mantle between 2011 and 2015; and Triguboff in 2016. Pratt held the mantle again, between 2017 and 2019. Rinehart returned in 2020 as Australia's wealthiest individual, and retained the mantle in every year since.
The list has sometimes caught the ire of those profiled. In an essay celebrating the 25th anniversary of the "BRW", Jefferson Penberthy, the founding editor of the "BRW Rich 100" wrote that Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith, at one stage valued at A$50 million, did not want to appear on the list. When told that the cut off was A$35 million, Smith publicly divested A$20 million to charities.
The "Financial Review Rich List" excludes individuals who have renounced their Australian citizenship. For example, despite Rupert Murdoch being born in Australia and having a personal net wealth of US$7.6 billion in 2011, due to Murdoch becoming a naturalised US citizen in 1985, he was excluded from the list.
The "BRW Rich Families List" was first published annually between 2008 and 2015. In every year of its publication the Smorgon family has headed the list, with estimated wealth of A$2.74 billion in 2015 spread across seven branches of the family. In 2015 the list comprised fifty families with an entry point of A$302 million. The families list has not been published in hard copy or online since 2015.
On 4 March 2016, Fairfax Media announced the closure of the "BRW" website, and redirected the site to a new section of "The Australian Financial Review". Rich lists are now published in "The Australian Financial Review Magazine" and in 2017 were rebranded as the "Financial Review Rich List".
The "Financial Review Rich List" is one list in a series of lists published by the "Financial Review" and/or were previously published by the "BRW". Other lists included:
See also.
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References.
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