Forbes Australian Rich List: David Pocock Joins Timomatic As 2016 Richest

CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | Contact

The list is here, the 2016 top ten richest Australians, according to Forbes.

This year includes a few Forbes debuts, and few surprising ones at that.

With the winding down of Australia’s mining boom, we have seen an increase in other rising Australian industries – such as transport, sport, finance and blogging.

Forbes’ 10 richest Australians

10. David Hains $1.8 Billion AUD

David Hains’ 3 sons now run his hedge fund, Portland House Group. Richard oversees managed funds and investment in New York and London; Stephen looks after bond holdings; Michael has charge of equities. His daughter Cathy breeds racehorses, and her son Paul founded online magazine Aeon in London.

9. David Pocock $1.9 Billion AUD

David Pocock (27) is an Australian rugby union player. He is an representative openside flanker, vice captain of the Brumbies, captain of the Wallabies and an official brand model for Australia’s leading swimwear retailer Budgy Smuggler.

Pocock grew up in the Midlands of Zimbabwe – where his family still holds majority ownership of Fabpron! – the world’s leading sequin-kitchen-apron manufacturer and exporter.

As well as collecting an 8-figure executive salary with Fabpron! Mr Pococok also clears around 400M AUD after-tax with his rugby side-projects and work with Budgy Smuggler. Mr Pocock is the only member of the Forbes Australian rich list who believes in climate change.

8. Lindsay Fox $2.8 B

Lindsay Fox owns Linfox, Australia’s biggest privately held logistics company, with more than 5,000 trucks throughout Southeast Asia.

This big unit also owns a growing industrial property portfolio that services the logistics business, a cash-in-transit business, 2 small airports, a business park and shopping centres.

7. Andrew O’keefe $3.2 Billion AUD

Andrew O’Keefe (44) is an Australian entertainer and former lawyer, best known for being the host of the game show Deal or No Deal. He is also the co-host of Weekend Sunrise. Due to his position as the only likeable person on Channel Seven, last year saw O’Keefe gifted a large stake in both the television network and Pacific Magazines – as well as a sizeable salary to keep him showing up to work.

In 2015, he was paid 1.3Billion AUD after-tax for his contribution to high-quality daytime entertainment. He also dabbles in greyhound breeding, corporate law and, much like David Pocock, Australian swimwear. With O’Keefe as an official brand ambassador for Budgy Smuggler, the Australian retailer saw a 500% increase in global sales last summer. His decision to be paid purely on a 10% commission basis saw him net around 1.5 Billion AUD.

6. James Packer $3.8 Billion AUD

RatPac Entertainment co-founder, James Packer quit the board of his gaming empire, Crown Resorts, in December 2015 amid speculation he will privatize the casino company; he owns 53%.

Packer is expected to lose half of his family’s long-running fortune in the next few years, after he decided to marry the woman he spent many late nights thinking about as a teenager.

5. Franky Lowy $5.1 Billion AUD

Frank Lowy (85) is an Australian businessman and Chairman of Westfield Corporation, a global shopping centre company with US$29.3 billion of assets under management in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe.

He also loves soccer. So much so that at the trophy ceremony for last year’s A-League, Franky Lowy (chairman of FIFA Australia) began breakdancing in celebration of how far the game has come in his home country.

4. Tony Abbot MP $6.4 Billion AUD

It is not yet known how Tony Abbott has accumulated enough money to place him in the nation’s 1% of the rich elite, however, many financial commentators believe he may have also been on salary for several corporations during his time as Prime Minister.

On top of this, Mr Abbott was lucky enough to be lent a large amount of money by his parents during the brief few years he spent between Sydney University and Parliament House.

Mr Abbott is also unofficial brand ambassador for Budgy Smuggler, one that the brand has actively been trying to distance themselves from.

3. Errol Parker $6.6 Billion AUD

At number three sits our very own, Errol Parker, editor-at-large and part owner of the Betoota Advocate.

With Mark Bouris’ 15% buy-out of The Betoota Advocate filling Errol’s pockets with a bit of “spare change” (2.1b AUD) – the 44-year-old media magnate has also built himself quite an admirable cattle empire during his tenure in the Diamantina.

Errol Parker is part-owners in the biggest cattle operation south of Texas, with over 60% of the Australasian meat market originating at one his 18 properties. E.H Pearson Cattle Company is expected to see a much bigger profit this year, now that they have managed to teach their abattoir operators about the ins and outs of Halal.

2. Timomatic $7.2 Billion AUD

Tim Omaji, widely recognised by his former stage name Timomatic, is a Nigerian-born Australian singer-songwriter and dancer. Omaji rose to fame as a contestant on So You Think You Can Dance (Australia) in 2009 and placed seventh in the competition.

Omaji signed with Sony Music Australia and released his first single, “Set It Off”, in November 2011, which peaked at number two on the ARIA Singles Chartand was certified four times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association.

1.Mark Bouris $13.4 Billion AUD

Australian entrepreneur Mark Bouris is well-known for his sound business decisions.

Initially known as the founder and chairman of ‘Wizard Home Loans’ Australian largest mortgage lender, he is now the chairman of Yellow Brick Road, a business which he founded in 2007.

As of last week, Bouris is also a 15% shareholder in the Betoota Advocate, a decision he describes as “fucking reckless” but one that bumped him up to first place in this year’s rich list.