The BRW Rich 200 is a list of Australia's two hundred wealthiest individuals and families, ranked by personal net worth. The list was historically released annually in May or June in a special issue of the Business Review Weekly (BRW), 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 AFR Magazine and published online on the Financial Review website.
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. In 2016, the entry mark for the 200th richest individual was A$303 million – an increase of A$17 million on the 2015 entry mark. The wealthiest individual in the 2016 list was Harry Triguboff AO, estimated to have a personal net worth of A$10.62 billion – the first year that Triguboff has headed the list. Triguboff succeeded Gina Rinehart who 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.
Seventeen individuals and/or families have made every list; including Maurice Alter, Lindsay Fox, John Gandel, Bruce Gordon, Bruno & Rino Grollo, Reg Grundy, David Hains, Bob Ingham, John Kahlbetzer, Solomon Lew, John Longhurst, Frank Lowy, Grahame Mapp, Stan Perron, Alan Rydge, Kerry Stokes, and Harry Triguboff.
Fourteen women and 186 men made the 2014 BRW Rich 200 list. The list is dominated in number, but not by value, by those whose source of wealth is from property investment (26%); while in previous years mass media has been the traditional wealth creation source. In more recent years, those with an interest in resources have dominated the list by value. The combined wealth of the 200 individuals in 2015 was assessed at A$195.9 billion, an increase of 1.2% on the 2014 BRW Rich 200. Average wealth for the 200 on the 2015 list reached A$974.7 million, only marginally higher than A$968 million in the previous year. In the 2016 list, members had an average age of 66, with 27 aged 80 or older.
Background and history
The BRW Rich 200 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 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, son of Richard Pratt (who had died four weeks earlier), was top of the list with A$4.3 billion. In 2010, the founder of Westfield, Frank Lowy, who had appeared on the list every year, was Australia's richest individual with an assessed personal net worth of A$5.04 billion. Rinehart has held the mantle every year since 2011.
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 BRW Rich 200 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, due to Murdoch becoming a naturalised US citizen in 1985, he is excluded from the list.
The BRW Rich Families List was first published in 2008 and 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 comprises 50 families with an entry point of A$302 million.
The BRW Rich 200 is one list in a series of lists published by the BRW. Other lists includes:
On 4 March 2016, Fairfax announced the closure of the BRW website, and redirected the site to a new section of the The Australian Financial Review. Rich lists are now published by The AFR and continue to carry the BRW branding.