[imagesource: Sergei Bobylev\TASS via Getty Images]

South African-born businessman Ivan Glasenberg has climbed a few rungs on Australia’s rich list this year.

As the former CEO of the world’s biggest commodity trading firm, Glencore, the owner of a couple of mines, and an avid coal trader, Glasenberg has big bucks.

He was ranked at 309th on the world billionaire list in 2018, and now he is 12th on the Financial Review‘s list of the 200 richest people in Australia.

This is all down to his estimated net worth of A$7,39 billion (around R82 billion).

He was pushed up four notches on the list since his position last year, when he sat 16th with a net worth of about A$4,54 billion (R52 billion), according to BusinessTech:

While Glasenberg’s wealth is up 62,6% from 2020’s ranking, it’s only slightly higher than the A$7,17 billion recorded in 2019, before the pandemic hit. His 12th position in the ranking is also lower than previous years where he featured among the top 10.

…”Glasenberg’s wealth is underpinned by his Glencore shareholding. He departed with Glencore shares in better shape; they’ve doubled in the past 12 months as he reinstated the dividend he was forced to scrap in 2020 as he wrote down the company’s assets by $5,9 billion,” Financial review said.

Glasenberg was with Glencore for two decades.

He was born in South Africa but managed to add Australia and Switzerland to his passport collection at a later stage.

It is this dual citizenship that has allowed Glasenberg to fly under the radar on bigger lists like those compiled by Forbes and Bloomberg.

If you want to know more tidbits about the guy, we have you covered here.

A look at the Financial Review’s ranking of the top six richest folks down under:

Say, who might that intriguing fella in third place be? That mullet-looking hairstyle surely has a story.

Mike Cannon-Brookes is apparently the “international face of Australia’s tech sector” having co-founded Atlassian in 2002 with university friend Scott Farquhar:

What started in a garage with a $10 000 credit card has become a $76 billion collaboration software business, and the stuff of legend. The easy-going, T-shirt loving founder is also leading the push for the country to transition to renewable energy and fight climate change.

Cannon-Brookes has made numerous investments via his Grok Ventures: he’s backing a plan to create 1 million jobs through green projects and renewable energy.

His hairstyle of choice makes more sense now, matching his “easy-going, T-shirt loving” nature.

It just goes to show, too, I suppose, that one doesn’t need to be a serious suit man to make money.

That’s what I am taking from this.

[source:businesstech]