how did mike cannon brookes make his money

Mike Cannon-Brookes made most of his money by co-founding Atlassian, the software company behind tools like Jira and Confluence, and holding a large stake in it. His wealth also includes investments such as AGL Energy, Sun Cable, and a minority stake in the Utah Jazz.

How he built it

• He co-founded Atlassian with Scott Farquhar while still in university, initially backing the startup with credit cards.

• Atlassian grew from a small support/software business into a global enterprise software company and later went public in New York.

• Bloomberg says the majority of his fortune comes from about a 19% stake in Atlassian.

Other wealth sources

• He owns a stake in AGL Energy, which added to his net worth.

• He has also been involved in renewable-energy investing through ventures like Sun Cable and Grok Ventures.

• He bought a minority stake in the Utah Jazz, though that is not the main source of his wealth.

In plain English

He got rich the classic startup way: build a product people pay for, keep a big ownership stake, and let the company’s value grow massively over time. Atlassian was the core engine, and everything else came later.

TL;DR

Atlassian is the main reason Mike Cannon-Brookes is wealthy, and his later investments in energy and sports added to that fortune.