# Mike Cannon-Brookes

> Mike Cannon-Brookes is the Sydney-based co-founder and CEO of Atlassian. He built the collaboration software company with Scott Farquhar and became sole CEO in September 2024. Through Grok Ventures and Boundless Earth, he also pursues renewable energy investment and climate advocacy, including the AGL shareholder campaign and SunCable’s proposed electricity export project.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Atlassian
- **Organizations:** Atlassian, Grok Ventures, Boundless Earth, SunCable, University of New South Wales, Utah Jazz, South Sydney Rabbitohs
- **From:** New Haven, United States
- **Nationality:** Australian
- **Education:** Bachelor of Commerce in information systems, as stated in Atlassian’s current governance biography, University of New South Wales
- **Known for:** Co-founded Atlassian and led it from a credit-card-funded business to a Nasdaq-listed software company., Joint winner of the 2006 Australian EY Entrepreneur of the Year award., Recognised as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2009.

## Career timeline

- **1998** — Met Scott Farquhar in the same UNSW scholarship course.
- **2002** — Co-founded Atlassian with Farquhar; Jira 1.0 launched.
- **2003** — Confluence launched; American Airlines placed an unsolicited Jira order.
- **2006** — Won Australian EY Entrepreneur of the Year with Farquhar.
- **2014** — Began serving as an adjunct professor at UNSW, according to Atlassian’s governance biography.
- **2015** — Atlassian listed on Nasdaq as TEAM.
- **2016** — Started Grok Ventures as a family investment office.
- **2017** — Publicly challenged Tesla on South Australian battery delivery and offered to help arrange political support and funding.
- **2020** — Joined the Utah Jazz ownership group as a minority investor.
- **2021** — Bought a third of Blackcourt, which owns 75% of the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
- **2022** — Grok and affiliates acquired an 11.28% AGL interest; campaigned against its proposed demerger, which was withdrawn.
- **2023** — Grok completed its acquisition of SunCable’s assets in September.
- **2024** — Became Atlassian’s sole CEO in September after Farquhar stepped down as co-CEO.
- **2026** — Announced workforce reductions in March and introduced the Agentic Multiplayer Protocol in October.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Atlassian and led it from a credit-card-funded business to a Nasdaq-listed software company.
- Joint winner of the 2006 Australian EY Entrepreneur of the Year award.
- Recognised as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2009.
- Helped catalyse the public discussion and support for Tesla’s 2017 South Australian battery project.
- Successfully campaigned against AGL’s proposed 2022 demerger; four Grok-backed director candidates were elected that year.
- Grok acquired SunCable’s assets in 2023; the project received Singaporean conditional import approval in 2024.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — On 6 October, introduced AMP at Team ’26 Europe in Amsterdam, proposing shared workflows and accountable identities for AI agents.
- **2026-09** — Discussed Sydney’s role in Atlassian’s business and early-morning work routine in a Semafor interview published on 18 September.
- **2026-03** — On 11 March, announced a roughly 10% workforce reduction, approximately 1,600 employees, to fund AI and enterprise sales investment and strengthen finances.

## Links

- Website: https://www.atlassian.com
- LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/mcannonbrookes
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/mcannonbrookes

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/mike-cannon-brookes
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-12