When you think of business people, Australia has some of the most successful people on the planet. Like any other country in the world, it has some successful businessmen, and some are known worldwide. But who are the most successful businessmen in Australia? Some of them you may know, but maybe you never knew they were from Australia. While this list doesn’t cover any up and coming businessmen, like the ever-suave Sabri Suby who runs an Australian digital marketing agency, we will cover the top 3 of all time (as of this writing). So here are the top three successful businessmen in Australia and some of their business empires. You can also find out a bit about how much they can be worth.
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Rupert Murdoch
Of the names you probably weren’t expecting, here is this huge business mogul who is known for his trade in the media industry. He was born in 1931 in Melbourne, Australia, and he started his business escapades when he was 21. This was when he inherited Australia’s News Limited from his father. After he became the managing director when he inherited the company, he then grew it. In the 50s and the 60s, while he was in charge, he acquired different newspapers all around Australia and New Zealand. Later in the 60s, he began to fully expand across the globe when he expanded to the U.K and acquired the Sun and News of The World. He took over all these newspapers in 1969, and by 1981, he had grown to the U.S. When he got to the U.S., he took over The Times. In 1985 he became a naturalized U.S. citizen to meet the legal requirement to own a television station in the country. At this point, he had to give up his Australian citizenship as there was no dual citizenship.
John Ilhan
Though born in Yozgat, Turkey, John Ilhan is one of the most successful businessmen in Australia today. He only arrived in Australia when he was five after his family migrated to the country. He then grew up in Broadmeadows. His business journey started when he was selling Ford cars. He would then take up a role as a sales associate at an electrical and telephone retailer by the name of Strathfield Car Radios. In 1991, he went on to open his mobile phone store due to the experience he had from the previous post. His store, Crazy John’s, later on, grew to be Australia’s largest Telstra mobile dealership. It operated at least 20 physical locations around Victoria and more stores spread across Adelaide, Brisbane, and Sydney. In 2003, he was named number one in Australia’s Young Rich List. His wealth was approximated to be around AUD 200 million at that point. His death in 2007 due to a heart attack shocked the country.
Katie Page
This is the chief executive of Harvey Norman, one of the largest department stores in the country. She started this company with her husband in 1982, and by 2020, there were more than 200 Harvey Norman stores spread all across the globe. Their company is traded on the Australian Stock Exchange and is one of the component stores. She is one of the 4% of women who truly occupy top-level executive jobs in the country.
Biggest Businessmen In Australia
If you are looking at some of the successful businessmen in Australia, you need to look no further than these three. And though John Ilham is dead, he remains a name associated with success in Australia’s business sector.