Financial Review Rich List
The Financial Review Rich List, formerly known as the BRW Rich 200, is a list of Australia's two hundred wealthiest individuals and families, ranked by personal net worth published annually in The Australian Financial Review. The list provides a short summary on some of the known business activities of the individuals and families, together with commentary on how their ranking has changed from the previous year, if listed.
The list was historically released annually in May or June in a special issue of the Business Review Weekly , published by Fairfax Media. The final hardcopy issue of BRW was published in November 2013, and between 2014 and March 2016, the list was published online only. Since March 2016 the BRW Rich 200 has been published in hardcopy in The Australian Financial Review Magazine, and published online on the Financial Review website.
In 2019, the entry mark for the 200th richest individual was 472 million an increase of 85 million on the 2018 entry mark. The wealthiest individual in the 2019 list was Anthony Pratt and family, estimated to have a personal net worth of 15.57 billion the fourth time that Pratt had headed the list; the other times being in 2009, 2017 and 2018. Pratt succeeded Harry Triguboff who topped the list in 2016, when it was estimated he had a personal net worth of 10.62 billion. Gina Rinehart held the mantle between 2011 and 2015. In 2012 BRW proclaimed Rinehart as the richest woman in the world, a title that appeared to have slipped in subsequent years, according to Forbes Asia.
Thirteen individuals and/or families have made every list; including Maurice Alter, Lindsay Fox, John Gandel, Bruce Gordon, Bruno & Rino Grollo, David Hains, John Kahlbetzer, Solomon Lew, Frank Lowy, Grahame Mapp, Alan Rydge, Kerry Stokes, and Harry Triguboff.
In 2014 fourteen women and 186 men made the BRW Rich 200 list; and by 2017 the number of women had increased to fifteen women; increased to nineteen women in the list published in 2018; and in 2019, twenty-six women were included on the 2019 Rich List, representing 13 percent of the total list.
The list is dominated in number by those whose source of wealth is from property, retail and investment ; while in the 1980s through until mid-2000s, mass media was the traditional wealth creation source. In the early years of this century, those with an interest in resources dominated the list by value. The combined wealth of the 200 individuals in 2019 was assessed at 341.8 billion; and the average wealth for the 200 on the 2019 list reached 1.70 billion. 2017 was the first year that average wealth exceeded one billion dollars.
Background and history
The Financial Review Rich List was first published in 1984 as the BRW Rich 100, with an entry point of A$10 million, that profiled 144 people and 20 families.In 2008 it was the first time in more than 20 years that a Kerry or James Packer had not headed the list. Andrew Forrest was listed as the richest person in Australia, with a net worth estimated at A$9.41 billion, with James Packer listed third with A$6.1 billion. In 2009 Anthony Pratt was top of the list with A$4.3 billion. In 2010, the founder of Westfield, Frank Lowy, who has appeared on the list every year, was Australia's richest individual with an assessed personal net worth of A$5.04 billion. Rinehart held the mantle between 2011 and 2015; and Triguboff in 2016.
The list has sometimes caught the ire of those profiled. In an essay celebrating the 25th anniversary of the BRW, Jefferson Penberthy, the founding editor of the BRW Rich 100 wrote that at one stage Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith, then valued at A$50 million, did not want to appear on the list. When told that the cut off was A$35 million, Smith publicly divested A$20 million to charities.
The Financial Review Rich List excludes individuals who have renounced their Australian citizenship. For example, despite Rupert Murdoch being born in Australia and having a personal net wealth of US$7.6 billion in 2011, due to Murdoch becoming a naturalised US citizen in 1985, he is excluded from the list.
The BRW Rich Families List was first published annually between 2008 and 2015. In every year of its publication the Smorgon family has headed the list, with estimated wealth of A$2.74 billion in 2015 spread across seven branches of the family. In 2015 the list comprised fifty families with an entry point of A$302 million. The families list has not been published in hard copy or online since 2015.
On 4 March 2016, Fairfax announced the closure of the BRW website, and redirected the site to a new section of The Australian Financial Review. Rich lists are now published in The Australian Financial Review Magazine and in 2017 were rebranded as the Financial Review Rich List.
The Financial Review Rich List is one list in a series of lists published by the Financial Review and/or were previously published by the BRW. Other lists includes:
- the BRW Rich series; covering BRW Executive Rich, BRW Young Rich, and BRW Rich Summer
- the BRW Fast list series; covering BRW Fast Starters, BRW Fast Franchises, and BRW Fast 100
- the BRW Top list series; covering Top 1000 Companies, Top 50 Entertainers, and Top 500 Private Companies
Lists by year
- BRW Rich 100, 1984
- BRW Rich 200, 1985
- BRW Rich 200, 1986
- BRW Rich 200, 1987
- BRW Rich 200, 1988
- BRW Rich 200, 1989
- BRW Rich 200, 1990
- BRW Rich 200, 1991
- BRW Rich 200, 1992
- BRW Rich 200, 1993
- BRW Rich 200, 1994
- BRW Rich 200, 1995
- BRW Rich 200, 1996
- BRW Rich 200, 1997
- BRW Rich 200, 1998
- BRW Rich 200, 1999
- BRW Rich 200, 2000
- BRW Rich 200, 2001
- BRW Rich 200, 2002
- BRW Rich 200, 2003
- BRW Rich 200, 2004
- BRW Rich 200, 2005
- BRW Rich 200, 2006
- BRW Rich 200, 2007
- BRW Rich 200, 2008
- BRW Rich 200, 2009
- BRW Rich 200, 2010
- BRW Rich 200, 2011
- BRW Rich 200, 2012
- BRW Rich 200, 2013
- BRW Rich 200, 2014
- BRW Rich 200, 2015
- BRW Rich 200, 2016
- Financial Review Rich List, 2017
- Financial Review Rich List, 2018
- Financial Review Rich List, 2019
Past richest Australian
| Year | Name | Net worth billion | Sources of wealth |
| 1984 | 0.20 | Publishing & Broadcasting Limited; Consolidated Media Holdings | |
| 1985 | 0.30 | Bell Resources; diversified investment | |
| 1986 | 0.60 | Diversified investment | |
| 1987 | 1.40 | Bell Resources; diversified investment | |
| 1988 | 1.50 | ||
| 1989 | 1.80 | Publishing & Broadcasting Limited; Consolidated Media Holdings | |
| 1990 | 1.85 | Publishing & Broadcasting Limited; Consolidated Media Holdings | |
| 1991 | 1.90 | Publishing & Broadcasting Limited; Consolidated Media Holdings | |
| 1992 | 2.70 | Publishing & Broadcasting Limited; Consolidated Media Holdings | |
| 1993 | 3.00 | Publishing & Broadcasting Limited; Consolidated Media Holdings | |
| 1994 | 5.50 | Publishing & Broadcasting Limited; Consolidated Media Holdings | |
| 1995 | 3.00 | Publishing & Broadcasting Limited; Consolidated Media Holdings | |
| 1996 | 3.30 | Publishing & Broadcasting Limited; Consolidated Media Holdings | |
| 1997 | 3.90 | Publishing & Broadcasting Limited; Consolidated Media Holdings | |
| 1998 | 5.20 | Publishing & Broadcasting Limited; Consolidated Media Holdings | |
| 1999 | 6.40 | Publishing & Broadcasting Limited; Consolidated Media Holdings | |
| 2000 | 8.20 | Publishing & Broadcasting Limited; Consolidated Media Holdings | |
| 2001 | 6.20 | Publishing & Broadcasting Limited; Consolidated Media Holdings | |
| 2002 | 5.90 | Publishing & Broadcasting Limited; Consolidated Media Holdings | |
| 2003 | 5.50 | Publishing & Broadcasting Limited; Consolidated Media Holdings | |
| 2004 | 6.50 | Publishing & Broadcasting Limited; Consolidated Media Holdings | |
| 2005 | 6.90 | Publishing & Broadcasting Limited; Consolidated Media Holdings | |
| 2006 | 7.10 | Media; entertainment ; investment | |
| 2007 | 7.25 | Media; entertainment ; investment | |
| 2008 | 9.41 | Fortescue Metals Group | |
| 2009 | 4.30 | Visy Industries; investment | |
| 2010 | 5.04 | Westfield; property | |
| 2011 | 10.31 | Hancock Prospecting; media; investment | |
| 2012 | 29.17 | Hancock Prospecting; media; investment | |
| 2013 | 22.02 | Hancock Prospecting; media; investment | |
| 2014 | 20.01 | Hancock Prospecting; media; investment | |
| 2015 | 14.02 | Hancock Prospecting; media; investment | |
| 2016 | 10.62 | Meriton Apartments | |
| 2017 | 12.60 | Visy Industries; investment | |
| 2018 | 12.90 | Visy Industries; investment | |
| 2019 | 15.57 | Visy Industries; investment |