Latest / The Front / The breakdown of Atlassian’s tech bromance

Transcript

The breakdown of Atlassian’s tech bromance · The Front

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm christianamiod.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: It's Monday, July twenty one, twenty twenty five. Queensland cattle
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: baron Paul Hatton has spoken for the first time about
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: the nineteen seventy eight death of his first wife, Julie.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: He says the twenty two year old new mum died
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: by suicide after suffering from postnatal depression, and he claims
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: the case should never have been reopened almost half a
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: century after her death. Parliament will resume for the first
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: time since the election this week and the Prime Minister
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: is under pressure from the unions to boost productivity. New
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: data from News Poll suggests Labor is having a second honeymoon,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: with core support for the Coalition at its lowest point
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: in forty years. Those stories alive right now at The
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Australian dot Com dot a U, private investment firm of
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Atlasian co founder Mike canon Brooks has paused new ventures
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: amid a lengthy divorce battle. Today, the fallout from the
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: breakdown of two of the billionaire's closest relationships.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Mike cannon Brooks and Scott Farquhar set up their it
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: company at Lassian fresh out of university. They're now turning
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: over fifteen million dollars a year at the ripe old
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: age of twenty six and twenty seven.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: I don't think anything's been particularly mind blowingly tough, but
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: we've tried our best and we've done all right so far.
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: They may be young millionaires, but they're pretty casual about it,
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: and their take on the business world is about going
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: back to the basics, giving customers what they want.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: These guys built a forty billion dollars tech company seven
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: thousand miles away from Silicon Valley. I think we feel
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: like we're still only at the start of our careers,
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: so hopefully we can justify this over the next twenty
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: five thirty years.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Ad Lasian is one of Australia's greatest tech success stories.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: The software company was founded by Mike cannon Brooks and
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Scott Farquhar in two thousand and two, and being a
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: tech company, it's steeped in law. The story goes that
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: a then twenty two year old Mike cannon Brooks sent
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: an email to his University of New South Wales computer
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: science classmates asking if anyone wanted to launch a startup
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: instead of taking a job at an established company. Farquha
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: was the only one to reply. In less than a decade,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: they went from running their fledgling company on ten thousand
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: dollars of credit card debt to raising millions of dollars
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: of venture capital investment. Canon Brooks and Farquah managed at
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Lasian as co founders and CEOs for more than twenty years,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: something of a rarity in the business world. Between them,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: they've won dozens of awards and rocketed up rich lists,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: including the Australian's Richest two hundred and fifty, where they're
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: currently sitting inside the top five with a net worth
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: of about twenty five billion dollars apiece. And the pair
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: were so inseparable they were best men at each other's
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: weddings and famously bought mansions next door to each other
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: in Sydney's lavish Eastern suburbs. But when Scott Farquha gathered
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: with his nearest and dearest to celebrate his departure from
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: the company on Sydney Harbor last year, Mike canon Brooks
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: was notably absent. Here's John Stenzolt. He's the editor of
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: the list Australia's Richest two hundred and fifty.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: Look, clearly, you know, these two guys, canon Brooks and
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: Farkhall were great mates once upon a time, they were
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: business partners. Clearly for a long time, they were neighbors
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: as well. All these things swelled together, and I think
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: there's a gradual sort of erosion over time of whether
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: it's trust or sort of feelings towards each other in
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: a business sense. At the end of the day, looked
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: they clearly didn't get along for all we've been told.
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: And it ends up really with Mike cannon Brooks of
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: emerging really as the king with Scott Farquay leaving.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: When Farquay left at Lassian, he said it was to
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: make time for more noble pursuits.
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: The forty four year old says he'll dedicate more of
• 4:18
  Speaker 5: his time to philanthropy and helping to further the technology industry.
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: He isn't stepping away entirely, though, he'll remain on the
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: company's board as a special advisor.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: But John and The Australian's chief business correspondent Perry Williams
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: reported things haven't been good inside at Lasian for a while.
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: I think anytime you have co founders, it can be difficult.
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: Right inside the office. There's a lot of tensions swirling
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: around with people underneath Mike and Scott, and it was
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: almost a case of which side are you on? Are
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: you on team Scott? Are you on team Mike? Mike
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: being the more gregarious character and more sort of outspoken,
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: probably internally but clearly externally too. Clearly they're both very, very,
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: very clever, but the relationships or the personalities were not
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: always going to last. And I think that's what's happened.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: The other thing, driving a wedge between Australia's most famous
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: tech bros, those multimillion dollar mansions.
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: It's almost like a billionaire's fairy tale in a way.
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: We're going to live next door to each other. We've
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: grown this business together. There's a gate between the houses.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: The kids will play together. It didn't quite add up
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: in the end so far. Quha spent about three years
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: working on this plan to revamp, literally overhaul what was
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: an aging mansion. They were going to spend thirty seven
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: million dollars. Now, I think anyone who's ever done a
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: renovation that number is probably going to blow out, so
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: but it was still huge. They announced it or they
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: leak it to the press say they're going to put
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: into council three weeks later is quietly withdrawn. What we've
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: been told and what others have been told as well,
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: it was due to enable ease sort of objections. Now, look,
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: the only person over the fence was Mike cannon Brooks
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: and his then wife any canon Brooks, so clearly there
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: was issues. They've denied this publicly before. They were trying
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: to play it down to us on background and stuff
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: like that, but clearly something happened.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: John and Perry sources say there's no love lost between
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Scott Farkwhai's wife Kim Jackson and Annie cannon Brooks either.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: There's so many people that we have spoken to have
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: said that there were tensions between the wives. Now, I
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: don't think that was the primary reason for Farquha going
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: one way and canon Brooks going the other way in
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: that Lassian sense, but it mustn't have helped both of
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: the wives different characters. So Kim Jackson was in a
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: rock band, became an investment banker. Annie cannon Brooks, fashion designer,
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: then has now gone on to sort of chase some
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: of her passions in an investment and philanthropic sense they're
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: clearly different people, right. Look, there's been attempts to play
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: this down over time. You know, there's a sense that
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: perhaps there is respect between each other, particularly from any
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: towards Kim when it comes to her investment sense. I
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: don't think that they were our best friends ever. Put
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: it that way.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Is this a moment of reckoning for it, Lassiean, do
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: you think John in terms of the way it operates
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: or will this be business as usual?
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: You've got to remember that Scott is still on the
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: Atlassian board. He's got an advisory role towards Mike. Now,
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: who knows what sort of advice Mike is taking from
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: Scott given what was happening in the preceding years. He's
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: still had a really big shareholding, So there is that
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: maintaining of the skin in the game and also the
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: presence in the boardroom. But I think that investors, from
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: what we've been told, prefer to deal with that. One CEO.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Coming up Mike cannon Brooks's side hustle HiT's the Skids
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: about a year before Scott farquh depart of the tech
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: company he founded with his unique classmate. Another of Mike
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: cannon Brooks's relationships came to an end.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: Billionaire and Atlasian co founder Mike cannon Brooks and his
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: wife Annie Will reported lease oparate.
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: The pair married in twenty ten inm.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: Now, the long delay in settling the high profile divorce
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: is causing problems for canon Brooks's climate focus to private
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: investment group Grock Ventures. Here's John Stenzholt Well.
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: Grock Ventures was his private investment company set up really
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: with the proceeds that canon Brooks has made from Atlassion,
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: whether it's been the float or the selldown of shares
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: over time. They made a pledge a few years ago
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: to spend one point five billion dollars on various environmental
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: or green causes. You know, there's been the Ahl Energy
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: buying of shares where Mike wants to pursue more of
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: a green sort of ideal for that company. But effectively
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: Grock has been frozen or it's been stopped from making
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: any major deals in about the last two years. We've
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: been told. So really since the split was made public
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: between Mike and Andy, Grock has got a bit quiet.
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: There's been executives leave, there's been a lack of new
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: investments that have happened. So really it's in a bit
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: of a holding pattern from what we understand.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: Which is of course saved the forty billion dollar sun
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Cable Energy project from administration. It was to send solar
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: power from the Northern Territory to Singapore. What does the
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: future of that venture look like now, there's been.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: A lot of controversy swelling around that project for some time.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: It has got a lot of approvals right Northern Territory government,
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: Singapore government. But what's happened in the last few months,
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: which we've also reported on separately, is that sun Cable
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: has gone to the market to try and raise about
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: one hundred million US dollars from various investors or potential
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: partners for the project, but there's been lukewarm reception at best.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: Now we've reported that executives from sun Cable itself and
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: workers there have been made redundant or have left in
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: recent months too. So it's got the similar issue to
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: GROC is that no one quite knows what's happening with it,
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: where it's going, and how firm its future plans are.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: So I think there's a lot of doubts staying to
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: swirl around it. It needs a lot of money to
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: keep going the market is what's telling us, and it's
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: clearly what's telling sun Cable is that the plans are
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: very very ambitious. Now, forty billion dollar projects, you know,
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: don't come along every day. It's going to be one
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: of the biggest ever. But if you think of building
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: a cable from somewhere in the Northern Territory to Darwin
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: is very ambitious. But then to build another one under
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: sea to Singapore is another question. Altogether, there are still
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: big doubts over that project.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: John Stanzelt is the editor of the List Australia's Richest
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty. You can read his reporting with
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: Perrywilliams at The Australian dot com dot au