Scott Farquhar is an Australian billionaire, the co-founder and co-CEO of the software companyAtlassian. Farquhar often carries the epithet of accidental billionaire after he and his business partnerMike Cannon-Brookes founded Atlassian with the aim to replicate the 48,000 graduate starting salary typical at corporations without having to work for someone else.
With Cannon-Brookes, Farquhar is the co-founder and co-CEO of Atlassian, a collaboration software company with more than 51,000 large and small organisations as customers – including some of the biggest names in media, manufacturing and technology – use Atlassian’s tracking, collaboration, communication, service management and development products. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of New South Wales' School of Computer Science and Engineering. Cannon-Brookes and Farquhar were recognised for their achievements as the Australian IT Professional of the Year award in 2004, and Australian 2006 Entrepreneur of the Year. Farquhar has mentored through the Australian Businesswomen’s Network and gives guest lectures on entrepreneurship to MBA students and undergraduates. In 2018, Farquhar spoke out against the Australian Government’s renaming of the 457 visas, saying the move damages Australia's reputation as a place that people want to come to work.
Personal life
He is married to Kim Jackson and they have three children. In 2017 Farquhar purchased from the Fairfax family its former ancestral Sydney harbourside home, Elaine, for approximately 75 million. The home set on had been in the ownership of the Fairfax family since 1891 and was vacant for nearly twenty years prior to its purchase by Farquhar. In 2020 it was reported that Farquhar plans a partial knock-down of unsympathetic renovations to Elaine, and rebuild a $30 million contemporary home. In 2018 Mike Cannon-Brookes bought the house next door, Fairwater, Australia's most expensive house at around $100 million. Alongside his business partner, Cannon-Brookes, Farquhar debuted on the 2007 BRW Young Rich list ofthe richest Australians aged 40 and under, and on the BRW Rich 200 in 2013 with an estimated net worth of 250 million. In 2016, his net worth was estimated by Forbes on the list of Australia's 50 Richest people as 1.75 bn; by BRW Rich 200 as 2.00 bn; and by the Sunday TimesRich List as 906 million. As of 2019, Farquhar was ranked 5th in the Forbes' Australia's 50 Richest people with revenue of 7.5 billion.
