Canva’s Melanie Perkins & Cliff Obrecht’s wealth surges by $4.5 billion in one year, while Oscar Piastri debuts on the Financial Review Young Rich List.

• Canva co-founders Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht rank #1 on the Young Rich List for the sixth year worth a combined $18.5 billion, up from $14 billion.
• Margot Robbie is Australia’s richest entertainer under 40, worth $193 million. 
• F1 driver Oscar Piastri debuts on the List with an estimated wealth of $122 million, while Daniel Ricciardo has increased his wealth despite no longer racing by $7 million to $194 million. But, basketball is still the biggest creation of sport wealth, with six basketballers on the Young Rich List.
• There are 21 Young Rich Listers who have made their wealth through retail, contributing $4.5 billion to the total wealth of the top 100 in 2025.

Canva co-founders Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht have topped the Financial Review 2025 Young Rich List for the sixth year in a row, growing their estimated net worth by $4.5 billion in just one year to $18.5 billion. 

The couple, aged 38 and 39 respectively, have a $13.9 billion lead on the next Young Rich Lister, Ed Craven, the co-founder of online cryptocurrency casino site stake.com who has an estimated wealth of $4.6 billion.

The full Financial Review Young Rich List will be available tomorrow, Friday, October 31 on afr.com and in a special edition of The Australian Financial Review Magazine.  

In third spot are Immutable brothers Robbie and James Ferguson with $1.7 billion combined, while controversial Melbourne billionaire Adrian Portelli has increased his wealth to land fourth with $1.4 billion. Airwallex co-founder Jack Zhang rounds out the top five, with an estimated wealth of $1.3 billion. 

Combined, the fortunes of the top 10 hit $31.7 billion, up 9.7 per cent from $28.9 billion in 2024.

Oliver Curtis – who as Roxy Jacenko’s husband is a regular fixture in tabloid stories – debuts at #12 on the List with an estimated net worth of $444 million thanks to his AI infrastructure company Firmus.   

Margot Robbie maintains her role as Australia’s richest entertainer under 40, with a wealth pile of $193 million, to come in at #36. 

Australia’s wealthiest Young Rich sport star is once again basketball star Ben Simmons, worth $260 million (#20) followed by F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo, who despite retiring from the sport, managed to increase his wealth by $7 million to $194 million (#35). Golfers Cameron Smith and Jason Day (#41 and #42) are worth $176 million and $167 million respectively. Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri debuts on the List at #56 worth $122 million.

There are 22 people making their Young Rich debut in 2025 –  the most since 2022 – and they are collectively worth $4 billion. Among them are AI entrepreneurs, a former Macquarie banker, The Block judge Marty Fox and a couple behind a collagen beauty brand. 

Ukrainian immigrant Anna Podolsky, 34, the founder of pet food company Lyka comes in at #30 on the list, worth $220 million. 

To qualify for the Young Rich List in 2025, you need a fortune of at least $44 million, up from $38 million in 2024. The tech sector’s dominance continues, contributing more than $28 billion, or 62 per cent, of the total net worth of the list in 2025. 

“It’s been another record-breaking year for the wealthiest Australians aged 40 and under, whose collective fortunes have risen 1700 per cent in the 22 years since the first Young Rich List was published by BRW. When the list launched in 2003, the total net worth of the 62 people featured was only $2.5 billion,” Rich List editor Yolanda Redrup said.

“The list has charted the spectacular rise, and fall, of some of the country’s most notable business identities. Through its history it’s detailed the journeys of the founders behind Atlassian, SEEK and MYOB, but also the collapse of the empires of entrepreneurs including Eddy Groves, Craig Gore and Zhenya Tsvetnenko.

“Their stories highlight the dedication and sacrifice needed to build your own business, and the sometimes fleeting nature of wealth when it is still primarily tied to equity.”

The Financial Review Young Rich List 2025 Highlights
TOP 10 (worth a collective $31.7 billion, using exact wealth figures)

1 Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, 38 & 39, $18.5 billion  – Canva
2 Ed Craven, 30, $4.6 billion – Stake.com
3 Robbie and James Ferguson, 33 & 28, $1.7 billion – Immutable
4 Adrian Portelli, 36, $1.4 billion – LMCT+
5 Jack Zhang, 40, $1.3 billion – Airwallex 
6 Nick Molnar, 35, $1.1 billion – Block 
7 Andrew Tulloch, 35, $953 million – Thinking Machine Labs, Meta
8 Paul Stovell, 39, $637 million – Octopus Deploy
9 Jessica Sepel and Dean Steingold, 36 & 40, $486 million – JSHealth
10 Nik Mirkovic and Alex Tomic, 30 & 32, $470 million each – Hismile

The Financial Review Young Rich List is available on www.afr.com and in a special edition of AFR Magazine this Friday, October 31.

For further information, please contact:
Adrian Motte
Senior Communications Manager – Trade & Publishing
amotte@nine.com.au

Thursday, 30 October, 2025