Fortescue boss rides resources boom to top of the rich list
By Peter Litras | theage.com.au | 27 March
The founder and chief executive of Fortescue Metals Group, Andrew Forrest, has overtaken Rupert Murdoch and James Packer to become Australia's richest executive, according to BRW.
Mr Forrest, who was last month ranked Australia's richest man by Forbes Magazine, has increased his wealth thanks to the commodities boom. His stake in Fortescue has soared to $8.4 billion, according to BRW's Executive Rich List, which ranks Australia's 200 wealthiest executives by the value of their shareholdings.
The list has 71 executives from the resources sector - up from 39 a year ago.
Media mogul Mr Murdoch comes in second with $7.9 billion in News Corp shares while Mr Packer, who replaced his late father Kerry as Australia's richest man on the BRW Rich 200 list in 2006, is third with his $3.6 billion holding in Crown and Consolidated Media Holdings.
The top-ranked woman is Computershare's executive director, Penelope Maclagan, ranked 37th with a shareholding worth $128 million.
Only two other women make the top 200: Harvey Norman chief executive Katie Page is ranked 65th with $69.4 million, and Paladin Energy company secretary Gillian Swaby is 74th with $62.1 million.
Other high-flying entrants include Westfield Group co-founder Frank Lowy, fourth with $2.8 billion, and Reece Australia chief executive Alan Wilson, ranked fifth with $1.5 billion.
"The most surprising aspect of the list was the number of mining executives," Rich List editor John Stensholt said. "There's also the high-profile casualties from the financial services sector."
Mr Forrest's holding surged by $6.5 billion in the past year, as China's hunger for iron ore sent prices rocketing.
On the slide, though, are former Allco Finance Group executive chairman David Coe, ABC Learning Centres founder Eddy Groves, and MFS co-founders Michael King and Phillip Adams - all three tumbling out of the top 200.
Newcomers to the list include Joseph Butta, general manager of marketing at clean coal company Felix Resources, whose shareholding is worth $104.3 million. The Brisbane-based coalminer's market capitalisation is about $2.2 billion and the company's share price has gained 40% this year while the overall sharemarket slumped more than 15%. Total wealth on the rich list is down $2.6 billion to $44 billion on last year's inaugural list, tracking the sharemarket's decline.
First published by TheAge.com.au on March 27 2008
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