Atlassian Co-CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes poses for a photograph with Utah Jazz co-owners, Dwyane Wade and Ryan Smith throughout Spherical 1 Sport 3 of the NBA Playoffs on April 21, 2022 at vivint.SmartHome Enviornment in Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah.
Melissa Majchrzak | Nationwide Basketball Affiliation | Getty Photographs
Atlassian Co-CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes has taken an 11% stake in Australia’s most outstanding utility firms, AGL Energy, in an effort to pressure it to burn much less coal, a significant contributor to local weather change.
The Australian software program billionaire, who grew to become a component proprietor of america’ Utah Jazz basketball workforce in 2020, purchased the stake by his personal funding group Grok Ventures. He is now the most important single holder within the firm.
Cannon-Brookes has spoken out about threats from local weather change, and is now appearing on his issues after the corporate rejected a earlier takeover bid from him and different traders.
The brand new marketing campaign goals to cease AGL’s proposed split into two firms: Power retailer AGL Australia and electrical energy generator Accel Power. AGL Power Chairman Peter Botten wrote in a letter to investors that the break up would assist Australia’s power system responsibly transfer towards decarbonization and create worth over the long run.
Cannon-Brookes would not share that view.
“The demerger is unnecessary, or cents. We imagine it destroys worth for everybody — shareholders, workers, Australia and the planet,” he wrote in a tweet on Monday. He urged different AGL Power traders to vote towards the proposal.
He elaborated on his place in a letter to AGL Power’s board.
“Below the demerger proposal, AGL A [Australia] will proceed to supply a majority of its power from Accel Power, which at present generates electrical energy with 50% increased emissions depth than the remainder of the grid,” he wrote. “We imagine this publicity to coal-fired energy technology is inconsistent along with your proposal that AGL A [Australia] can be a pacesetter in sustainability.”
Cannon-Brookes and his pal from the College of New South Wales, Scott Farquhar, based Atlassian in 2002. The collaboration-software maker went public in 2015, and with income development charges usually above the 30% mark, the inventory became a favorite among growth investors.
Development software program firms, notably those who usually lose cash like Atlassian, have lost their sheen in current months as rates of interest enhance.
However Cannon-Brookes stays one of many world’s wealthiest individuals. He and Farquhar every personal 19% of Atlassian’s excellent Class A shares, that are price a mixed $25 billion.
In October, Cannon-Brookes and his spouse, Annie, made a “green pledge,” committing to spend over $1.5 billion on local weather initiatives by 2030. Grok Ventures has invested in renewable power firm Solar Cable, which is creating infrastructure to retailer solar energy in Australia and transfer it to Singapore. Grok Ventures additionally backed WeaveGrid, a San Francisco-based electric-vehicle software program start-up.
AGL Power said on Monday that its coal-fired Loy Yang An influence plant in southern Australia went out of service on April 15 due to a generator fault and won’t return to service till August, decreasing full-year revenue expectations.
“Removed from leaning into alternatives, splitting it [AGL Energy] places additional stress on struggling coal turbines. We’re seeing this at present with Loy Yang A,” Cannon-Brookes wrote in a tweet.
WATCH: National Grid CEO on the road to “net zero” and fossil-free heat in the Northeastern U.S.
