Mike Cannon-Brookes is an Australian technology billionaire who has expanded his interest and investment from software to various environmentalist activism concerns. These efforts have ranged from an attempt to take over Australia’s largest power company and carbon emitter to force it to close coal-fired power plants, to experiments with alternative agriculture and attempts to breed crickets to feed to humans as an alternative source of protein, and to investments in a wide range of companies attempting to reduce carbon output in industries ranging from toilet paper production to food production. ^{1 2 3}

Career

Mike Cannon-Brookes co-founded the tech company Atlassian with Scott Farquhar in 2002. He has worked along Scott Farquhar as co-CEO of the company since its founding. ⁴ As of April 2023, he had an estimated net worth of over $10 billion. ⁵

Cannon-Brookes has branched out from software to become heavily involved in environmental issues, especially alternative energy through direct purchases of companies and investment via his venture capital firm, Grok Ventures. ⁶

Political Views

Cannon-Brookes is not heavily involved in direct Australian politics. As of February 2022, he had only made a single one-time donation of $50,000 AUD (approximately $33,600 USD at April 2023 exchange rates) to a slate of independent candidates who were focused on climate issues in 2019. ⁷

Environmentalism

Cannon-Brookes is extremely focused on climate and environmental issues, and has stated that former American Vice President Al Gore’s 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth was a “life arc” moment. ⁸

Corporate Activism

Cannon-Brookes is heavily involved in climate issues from an economic perspective and has used his wealth to that end. The Financial Times characterized him as “Australia’s first green corporate raider” over his 2022 attempt to take over the Australian power company AGL. His direct attempt to purchase the company was rejected, but Cannon-Brooks continued to use his sizable 11.3% holding in the company to try and force changes aligned with his environmental views, such as shutting down coal-fueled power plants. ⁹

Grok Ventures

Cannon-Brookes runs Grok Ventures, a private investment company that has an emphasis on companies with an environmental focus. Companies range from space-focused firms, such as SpaceX, to alternative energy firms, robotics, and firms with reduced carbon emissions. He has also invested in a scheme run by Sun Cable to lay power lines from North Australia to Singapore via Indonesia to connect the city to Australian solar farms. The plan is estimated to cost $30 billion. ¹⁰

Property and Agricultural Acquisitions

Cannon-Brookes has purchased large quantities of land in New South Wales, for the purposes of practicing alternative forms of agriculture with the goal of reducing carbon emissions. He also plans to breed crickets to provide an alternative source of protein to traditional meat. ¹¹

Environmental Philanthropy and Investment

In addition to pledging billions of dollars of investment into environmental companies, Cannon-Brookes and his wife have pledged to donate $500 million to philanthropic causes. ¹² One nonprofit he has contributed to, Boundless, invested $10 million in The Good Car Company, which seeks to import used electric vehicles from Japan and the UK into Australia. ¹³

1. Fernyhough, James. “Mike Cannon-Brookes: Australia’s First Green Corporate Raider.” FT.com, May 13, 2022. Accessed April 3, 2023. https://www.ft.com/content/94a9e66a-069a-47e6-b6b4-e779614e3516.
2. Thomsen, Simon. “Mike & Annie Cannon-Brookes Just Turned Grok Ventures into Australia’s First $1 Billion VC Fund to Invest in Climate Tech.” Startup Daily, October 21, 2021. Accessed April 3, 2023.  https://www.startupdaily.net/topic/other-tech/mike-annie-cannon-brookes-just-turned-grok-ventures-into-australias-first-1-billion-vc-fund-to-invest-in-climate-tech/.
3. Burgos, Jonathan. “Australian Tech Billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes Saving The Planet Through Philanthropy, Investments.” Forbes, December 13, 2021. Accessed April 3, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanburgos/2021/12/13/australian-tech-billionaire-mike-cannon-brookes-saving-the-planet-through-philanthropy-investments/.
4. Burgos, Jonathan. “Australian Tech Billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes Saving The Planet Through Philanthropy, Investments.” Forbes, December 13, 2021. Accessed April 3, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanburgos/2021/12/13/australian-tech-billionaire-mike-cannon-brookes-saving-the-planet-through-philanthropy-investments/.
5. “Mike Cannon-Brookes.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine. Accessed April 18, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/profile/mike-cannon-brookes/?sh=5f4450a27fd4.
6. Thomsen, Simon. “Mike & Annie Cannon-Brookes Just Turned Grok Ventures into Australia’s First $1 Billion VC Fund to Invest in Climate Tech.” Startup Daily, October 21, 2021. Accessed April 3, 2023.  https://www.startupdaily.net/topic/other-tech/mike-annie-cannon-brookes-just-turned-grok-ventures-into-australias-first-1-billion-vc-fund-to-invest-in-climate-tech/.
7. Fitzsimmons, Caitlin. “‘Moving the Debate’: Mike Cannon-Brookes on Climate Independents and His Budget Wishlist.” The Sydney Morning Herald, February 12, 2022. Accessed April 3, 2023.  https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/moving-the-debate-mike-cannon-brookes-on-climate-independents-and-his-budget-wishlist-20220201-p59sw0.html.
8. Fernyhough, James. “Mike Cannon-Brookes: Australia’s First Green Corporate Raider.” FT.com, May 13, 2022. Accessed April 3, 2023. https://www.ft.com/content/94a9e66a-069a-47e6-b6b4-e779614e3516.
9. Fernyhough, James. “Mike Cannon-Brookes: Australia’s First Green Corporate Raider.” FT.com, May 13, 2022. Accessed April 3, 2023. https://www.ft.com/content/94a9e66a-069a-47e6-b6b4-e779614e3516.
10. Thomsen, Simon. “Mike & Annie Cannon-Brookes Just Turned Grok Ventures into Australia’s First $1 Billion VC Fund to Invest in Climate Tech.” Startup Daily, October 21, 2021. Accessed April 3, 2023.  https://www.startupdaily.net/topic/other-tech/mike-annie-cannon-brookes-just-turned-grok-ventures-into-australias-first-1-billion-vc-fund-to-invest-in-climate-tech/.
11. ^[1] Burgos, Jonathan. “Australian Tech Billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes Saving The Planet Through Philanthropy, Investments.” Forbes, December 13, 2021. Accessed April 3, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanburgos/2021/12/13/australian-tech-billionaire-mike-cannon-brookes-saving-the-planet-through-philanthropy-investments/.
12. Thomsen, Simon. “Mike & Annie Cannon-Brookes Just Turned Grok Ventures into Australia’s First $1 Billion VC Fund to Invest in Climate Tech.” Startup Daily, October 21, 2021. Accessed April 3, 2023.  https://www.startupdaily.net/topic/other-tech/mike-annie-cannon-brookes-just-turned-grok-ventures-into-australias-first-1-billion-vc-fund-to-invest-in-climate-tech/.
13. Kurmelovs, Royce. “Foundation Backed by Mike Cannon-Brookes Invests $10m in Bid to Cut Secondhand Electric Car Cost.” The Guardian, October 6, 2022, sec. Environment. Accessed April 3, 2023.  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/06/foundation-backed-by-mike-cannon-brookes-invests-10m-in-bid-to-cut-second-hand-electric-car-cost.