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    Wealth

    Rich List

    Rich List 2023

    Featured

     The Di Petta’s collection of Ford Mustang muscle cars, such as these examples pictured, were frozen by the court.

    ATO freezes former Young Rich Lister’s muscle cars, mansion

    The flamboyant accountant Steve Di Petta, who has a penchant for Ford Mustangs, is facing allegations he and his wife owe the Tax Office over $3 million.

    • Max Mason

    How a uni dropout went from Maccas to building a $100m company

    Mark Woodland was expanding his education start-up before realising he’d overlooked a critical component for its success and he had to fix it.

    • Julie-anne Sprague

    On Hamilton, a family dynasty bets there’s more money in islands

    After showing potential buyers around last year, Sandy Oatley and his family are instead developing a new resort as they double down on the island.

    • Primrose Riordan
    Claire Morris founded Prezzee with Matt Hoggett.

    Prezzee co-founder quits Shaun Bonett-owned gift card company

    Claire Morris is leaving the group, and resigning as its brand ambassador. It follows a string of senior executive departures in the last 18 months.

    • Primrose Riordan

    For this Rich Lister, does the reality live up to the hype?

    Property mogul and entrepreneur Shaun Bonett has a fortune of more than $2 billion, according to the Rich List. Those valuations might not live up to the hype.

    • Primrose Riordan and Nick Bonyhady
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    Laurence Escalante on one of his boats in Perth.

    Gambling mogul lists superyacht at $10m, starts retailing supercars

    A spokesman for Laurence Escalante’s private office said the sales were part of a new business venture.

    • Primrose Riordan

    This former Young Rich Lister just spent $700k to alter his genes

    Nick Bell’s first business failed, his next made him millions. The serial entrepreneur’s latest business venture involves helping people live longer.

    • Julie-anne Sprague

    The homeschooled billionaire who built a fortune before turning 40

    Shaun Bonett was the country’s richest person under 40 in 2007. Now a billionaire, he shares his story, including a humiliating $25 million mistake.

    • Julie-anne Sprague
    Goldman Sachs’ headquarters in New York. The investment banking giant has made a concerted push into private wealth in Australia.

    Goldman eyes local banking licence to grow ultrarich lending business

    The Wall Street investment banking giant has made no secret of its desire to expand its private wealth division. There are limits on what it can do.

    • Primrose Riordan
    RM Williams CEO Paul Grosmann with Tattarang director Nicola Forrest at the Salisbury factory

    $650 for RM’s? ‘People want handcrafted,’ says Nicola Forrest

    Nicola Forrest says people are tiring of throwaway fast fashion as the iconic company she co-owns lifts capacity to tap into a fast-growing market for women’s boots.

    • Simon Evans

    April

    Minderoo Foundation chief executive John Hartman has swung the axe.

    Forrests’ $10b philanthropic foundation to cut 100 jobs

    Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation will shed about a third of its workforce in an overhaul aimed at making better use of its iron ore endowment.

    • Brad Thompson
    Casella Family Brands managing director John Casella at the group’s winery at Yenda in NSW.

    This Rich Lister sees a wave of distressed wine sales coming

    The MD of Casella Family Brands, owner of Australia’s biggest-selling wine export brand Yellow Tail, says the under $10 per bottle segment is still shrinking.

    • Simon Evans
    Cettire’s shares slumped on Tuesday, on the first day of trade after the Bell Potter note was published.

    Cettire shares slide 16pc on Bell Potter downgrade

    The company’s house broker said the luxury marketplace would continue to outperform peers, but it would be harder for it to generate high growth.

    • Updated
    • Carrie LaFrenz and Jonathan Shapiro

    March

    Sigma Healthcare boss Vikesh Ramsunder and Mario Verrocchi of Chemist Warehouse.

    Chemist Warehouse sales, profit surge ahead of ASX debut

    Regulatory approval from the ACCC stands in the way of a combined Chemist Warehouse and Sigma, which have revealed robust financials before their merger.

    • Updated
    • Carrie LaFrenz and Jemima Whyte
    Clive Palmer’s private company Mineralogy reaped $447 million in mining royalties last year.

    Clive Palmer reaps $447m in royalties from Chinese adversaries

    Rich Lister Clive Palmer says he is confident of success with massive damages claim against the federal and WA governments, and will stand his ground in a separate legal dispute with one of China’s biggest conglomerates.

    • Updated
    • Brad Thompson
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    WiseTech CEO Richard White runs the 16th largest listed company in the country.

    How this billionaire is making his staff rich

    The recent surge in WiseTech’s share price means Richard White isn’t the only one making money. Staff are sitting on a $320 million fortune. 

    • Yolanda Redrup

    Australia’s 75 richest women now control more than $151b

    The wealth of Australia’s richest 75 women soared by 30 per cent over the past year, as entrepreneurs in resources, tech, property and fashion enjoyed the fruits of a resurgent market.

    • Michael Bailey and Yolanda Redrup
    Gina Rinehart says the 22 per cent gender pay gap at her Hancock Prospecting is the temporary result of helping women enter the mining industry.

    Rinehart blames Hancock pay gap on ‘helping women’ into mining

    A 22 per cent gender pay gap at Hancock, versus a 15 per cent for all miners, is the temporary result of getting more women into the industry, Gina Rinehart says.

    • Michael Bailey and Yolanda Redrup

    February

    Residential prime real estate prices  are forecast by Knight Frank to rise by 5 per cent in Sydney this year.

    The sum you need to make it into the top 1pc in Australia

    Joining the top 1 per cent of wealthy Australians became easier last year as the country’s rich were hit with a weaker Aussie dollar and slowing economic growth.

    • Primrose Riordan
    Francisco Widjojo is the head of his family office Arkblu Capital, an example of the younger generation of family offices.

    Wealthy families are trying something new – ditching the secrecy

    There’s a new breed of private investment vehicle for the super rich. And they’re less interested in managing money out of view than making more of it.

    • Primrose Riordan

    The country’s most secretive billionaires are about to get much richer

    Angela Bennett never wanted the family business. The daughter of prospector Peter Wright almost sold it all. Now it’s about to become a bonanza.

    • Primrose Riordan and Tom Rabe
    Penny Dakin, Nicola Forrest and Louise Olney of the Minderoo Foundation.

    Forrests give $150m to gender equality fund

    Billionaires Andrew and Nicola Forrest have put the largest grant from their Minderoo Foundation towards work to create a fairer world for women and girls.

    • Brad Thompson
    Zambrero owner Sam Prince (left) and former CEO Stuart Cook.

    Zambrero billionaire sues former CEO to stop him taking credit

    Sam Prince has accused Stuart Cook of “misleading or deceptive conduct” in talking up his work on the Mexican-themed restaurant chain’s success.

    • Primrose Riordan
    Hancock Prospecting executive chairman Gina Rinehart.

    Rinehart turns 70 at legal and lithium crossroads

    As Australia’s richest person hits her milestone birthday, the market is testing Hancock Prospecting’s appetite for becoming a serious lithium force.

    • Brad Thompson
    Dean Mintz.

    Luxury marketplace Cettire looks to China as first-half sales soar

    The company says demand for Tom Ford and Gucci fashion and accessories remains healthy, with first-half sales up 89 per cent. The stock surged 25 per cent.

    • Updated
    • Carrie LaFrenz
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    Rich List fortunes gouged by green metals slump

    The wealth of mining executives and investors has taken a hit from the falling price of lithium and other minerals used in the transition from fossil fuels.

    • Tom Richardson
    Vanessa Stephens, Glenn White and Hayden Matthews, at the new offices of Volans in Sydney.

    Former Credit Suisse, HSBC bankers target ultrarich with new bank

    Volans opens its doors in May. It already has 17 employees on its books and is in the process of applying for a banking licence.

    • Primrose Riordan
    Trevor St Baker donated $50,000 to Advance Australia in the 2022-23 financial year.

    The heavy hitters behind Australia’s biggest conservative lobby group

    Australia’s richest businesspeople have become major backers of Advance Australia, which helped lead the “no” campaign at the Indigenous Voice to parliament referendum.

    • Updated
    • Primrose Riordan and Andrew Tillett

    January

    Senior execs step up to steer Lang Walker’s legacy

    The Rich List developer had already put in place succession planning within his vast property business early last year, handing over responsibility for running the company to a trusted group of lieutenants.

    • Nick Lenaghan
    Aaron, Kieran and Grant Warwick

    Crypto brothers, entrepreneurs shoot up Rich List as bitcoin rises

    Here are the Rich Listers basking in a bull run which has, in some cases, added tens of millions of dollars to their net worth in just three months.

    • Updated
    • Primrose Riordan and Andrew Turner