The number of Australian billionaires has continued to grow, with pub tycoons, crypto gambling moguls and gas station owners among the newcomers.
The country is home to a record 139 billionaires, with mining magnate Gina Rinehart topping the list with a net worth of $44.33 billion.
After making their fortunes in a number of different and highly lucrative industries, several lesser-known faces are among the newest additions.
Many have made their fortunes from humble beginnings, while others have continued to build on the foundation laid for them by their family.
Here are the newest billionaires on the Australian newspaper’s 250 richest list.
sam arnout
Pub mogul Sam Arnaout is worth an estimated $2.3 billion.
Pub mogul Sam Arnaout is worth an estimated $2.3 billion.
He is the CEO of IRIS Capital with over 30 pubs and 20 hotels to his name.
Steyne Hotel in Manly, on Sydney’s northern beaches, and Wisemans Ferry Inn Hotel along the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales, are among its best-known establishments.
It bought Lasseters Hotel in Alice Springs for $105 million in 2021, making it the largest employer in the Northern Territory.
Arnaout continued his spending spree when he acquired Canberra Casino on the ACT for $63 million in 2022.
His billionaire status is based on his humble beginnings with Mr. Arnaout, the son of refugees from the Lebanese civil war.
edward craven
Mr. Craven and his business partner Bijan Tehrani are the brains behind cryptocurrency sportsbook and sportsbook Stake.com
Online gambling mogul Edward Craven is worth an estimated $2.01 billion.
Mr. Craven and his business partner Bijan Tehrani are the brains behind cryptocurrency casino and sportsbook Stake.com.
He has been building his property portfolio after acquiring a mansion in Toorak, Melbourne for $38 million in March 2022.
Craven spent another $88 million on a house on St Georges Road, in the same suburb, months later in August.
The unfinished house had lain dormant for more than three decades, giving the property its name, ‘ghost mansion’.
Craven broke the city’s previous record sale of $52.5 million that was previously paid for Stonington Mansion in Malvern in 2018.
He was thought to be the mysterious billionaire who tipped a waitress $10,000 at Gilson’s in Melbourne’s South Yarra in February, but his representatives have denied it was him.
Terry and Arthur Tzaneros
Logistics operators Terry (pictured) and Arthur Tzaneros are a father-son duo worth an estimated $1.56 billion.
Logistics operators Terry and Arthur Tzaneros are a father-son duo worth an estimated $1.56 billion.
The father and son duo started ACFS Port Logistics in 2005 and generates about $300 million in revenue each year.
Your company makes a profit of $85 million a year before taxes and depreciation and employs more than 1,100 people nationwide.
Terry and his wife Anne own one of the most expensive homes in Sydney after buying a Point Piper mansion for around $40 million in 2021.
His son Arthur also bought a luxury house in nearby Vaucluse for $32 million in the same year.
Nick Andrianakos and family
Gasoline king turned real estate investor Nick Andrianakos has a net worth of $1.30 billion.
Andrianakos comes from humble beginnings after moving from Greece to Melbourne in 1966.
He bought his first gas station in 1973 and later created the Milemaker chain making him one of the largest gas station owners in the city.
He sold his chain to Caltex for $94 million in 2016, but retained a stranglehold on the gas stations.
Andrianakos has expanded into retail after acquiring a more than $135 million stake in the Colonnades shopping center in Adelaide in 2022.
The multi-million dollar purchase followed its $175 million purchase of the Adelaide Tower on Flinders Street in 2020.
Johnny and Markus Kahlbetzer
Johnny and Markus Kahlbetzer (pictured) are brothers who are worth a combined $1.3 billion.
Johnny and Markus Kahlbetzer are brothers who are worth a combined $1.30 billion.
His father, John, made the family fortune as a rural landowner in Argentina and Australia.
They were once one of Australia’s largest large-area farmland owners and operators under their Twynam Agricultural Group company.
Their land would be used to produce grain, cattle, wool, cotton, rice, and citrus.
His sons began selling the assets in the 2000s.
Markus has moved into real estate development and technology.
He is the CEO of the BridgeLane Group, a privately owned asset management firm that was founded by Markus in 2009.
Johnny remains the COO and CEO of Twynam Agricultural Group.
charles gibbon
Financial services guru Charles Gibbon is worth an estimated $1.19 billion.
He is the founder of Shearwater Growth Equity and Chairman of WiseTech Global.
Mr. Gibbon has a long history in the financial services industry, having served as a director of Monbeef and Photolibrary and CEO of Russell Private Equity.
Greg Coffey
Investment firm identity Greg Coffey has a net worth of $1.12 billion
Investment firm identity Greg Coffey has a net worth of $1.12 billion.
He made his fortune at the Gerson Lehrman Group in London with his talent for making money, earning him the nickname ‘Wizard of Oz’.
Koffey retired at the age of 41, but invested again a decade later.
His property portfolio includes a $105 million home in the Hamptons and a multimillion-dollar townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Peter Freedman
Microphone businessman Peter Freedman has a net worth of $1.1 billion.
His company, Freedman Electronics, sells his popular Rode brand of microphones worldwide.
Mr. Freedman is a high school dropout who had to interrupt his studies to help his father after he fell seriously ill.
The successful businessman now generates a staggering $300 million a year in annual revenue.
kim cannon
Mortgage lender Kim Cannon is worth an estimated $1.08 billion
Mortgage lender Kim Cannon is worth an estimated $1.08 billion.
He runs one of the largest non-bank mortgage lenders in the country, Firstmac.
The company has 60,000 clients and manages a loan portfolio of $16 billion.
christian beck
Software engineer Christian Beck is worth $1.03 billion.
He is the brains behind LEAP Legal Software and search engine Infotrack, a program that serves the legal profession.
His rise to billionaire status is even more impressive as Mr. Beck taught himself to code.
He has spent over 10 years working with law firms and has managed to combine his experience with coding to create his highly profitable programs.
Ian Malouf
Waste management king Ian Malouf is worth a new $1.03 billion
Waste management king Ian Malouf has a new value of $1.03 billion.
He founded Dial-a-Dump in 1984 and grew his business into a $577 million empire that he eventually sold to Bingo Industries in 2021.
Malouf maintains disused properties in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and has diversified his business empire.
He charters a collection of boats through his Ahoy Club superyacht charter business.
huang bingwen
The manufacturer Huang Bingwen has a fortune of 1,020 million dollars.
He has made his fortune in his Shantou Dongfeng Printing manufacturing business.
The company makes paper packaging for tobacco and other companies in China.
Bingwen bought a luxurious $60 million mansion in Point Piper, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, in 2016.
rod spoon
Real estate mogul Rod Spooner has just entered the billionaires list with a new worth of exactly one billion dollars.
His family owns Caribbean Park in Melbourne, a commercial district that is made up of hotels, restaurants, gyms and an office park.
The Spooner family had acquired 300 acres of land in Scoresby in 1945 and the area developed into the highly profitable business district it is today.
