The Top 10 richest Australians

Forbes releases its 2016 top 50 rich list and there are some surprises

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Published January 28, 2016 2:43 pm AEDT

Forbes has released its list of Australia's top 10 richest people and there were some notable surprises.

Gina Rinehart has lost her titles as Australia's richest woman and Australia's richest person, with Blair Parry-Okeden taking first place. Ms Parry-Okeden is an American heiress and longtime Australian resident, who inherited a quarter of American media conglomerate Cox Enterprises (privately owned).

Ms Parry-Okeden's wealth is valued at US$8.8 billion, pipping Ms Rinehart on US$8.5 billion. The falling iron ore price and a legal ruling impacting on her shareholding in Hancock Prospecting were the major factors in Ms Rinehart's wealth falling.

Property developer Harry Triguboff has moved into third place with an estimated wealth of US$6.9 billion, thanks to rising rents and continued Chinese demand for his Sydney apartments, which drove his wealth up by $1.3 billion.

Here's the full list.

Rank	Name	Net worth	Origin of wealth
1	Blair Parry-Okeden	US$8.8bn	Media
2	Gina Rinehart	US$8.5bn	Mining
3	Harry Triguboff	US$6.9bn	Property
4	Frank Lowy	US$5 bn	Shopping malls
5	Anthony Pratt	US$3.6bn	Manufacturing
6	James Packer	US$3.5bn	Casinos
7	John Gandel	US$3.2bn	Shopping malls
8	Lindsay Fox	US$2.8bn	Logistics/real estate
9	David Teoh	US$1.95bn	Telecommunications
10	David Hains	US$1.9bn	finance

Source: Forbes

James Packer makes the list again – mainly thanks to his 50% holding in Crown Resorts Ltd (ASX: CWN) which is worth roughly US$3 billion.

David Teoh has shot into the top 10 thanks to a series of smart acquisitions by TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX: TPM). Mr Teoh is the executive chairman of TPG and along with his wife own around 34.5% of the company. That shareholding is currently worth just over US$2 billion.

Kerr Neilson of Platinum Asset Management Limited (ASX: PTM) fell to eleventh from eighth last year with a US$1.9 net worth. Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar of NASDAQ-listed Australian software company Atlassian came it at 14th and 15th respectively.

Andrew Forrest, chairman of Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) has dropped to 22nd place, with a net worth of US$1.24 billion, suffering from falling iron ore prices and the impact of his 33.3% holding in Fortescue.

Foolish takeaway

How quickly fortunes can change. Andrew Forrest's stake in Fortescue in 2014 was worth A$6.4 billion – today it's worth just $1.59 billion. It's also interesting to see a number of newcomers from software and technology join the Forbes rich list.

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