How Two Australian Techies Lose $1.6 Billion Overnight

Two Australian billionaire techies, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar lost a massive $1.6 billion overnight as the market reacted negatively to their software Atlassian. The NASDAQ-listed firm, currently valued at $34 billion fell eight per cent from US$111.19 to US$100.92. The two men had stakes worth $10 billion before the overnight dive.

However, analysts have described the overnight loss as a temporary slip that won't affect the company's future. As per Bloomberg's statistics, Atlassian is trading at around 114 times its future earnings. The company, which was established in 2002 by the Sydney duo and university students, makes a range of enterprise software products including project management tool JIRA.

For the 2019 March quarter, Atlassian generated revenue of US$309 million, up to 38 per cent on the same period a year earlier. Cannon-Brookes and Farquhar had topped the 2018 Financial Review Young Rich List with a combined net worth of $14.2 billion. Farquhar said it wasn't until 2003 that they scored their first major customer. "That was the turning point when we knew we could make it."