Atlassian CEO and eco warrior Mike Cannon-Brookes replaces 150 workers with AI after defending private jet purchase
It is understood staff received a pre-recorded video from Mr Cannon-Brookes on Wednesday morning explaining that some of their jobs would soon be replaced by AI.
In vision seen by SkyNews.com.au, the high-flying CEO is wearing a faded green hoodie while speaking from a home office as he announced the cuts.
Mr Cannon-Brookes, 45, did not name who would be axed and impacted staff reportedly had to wait 15 minutes for an email about their fate.
Staff impacted had their laptops blocked, but Atlassian are expected to pay impacted staff for the next six months.
Mr Cannon-Brookes, who is worth an estimated $13.9 billion USD, has increasingly turned to investing his colossal wealth in eco-friendly projects, including an ambitious project to build an undersea cable between Darwin and Singapore to deliver solar-generated electricity.
Despite his climate advocacy, the high-flying CEO recently went ahead with the controversial purchase of a gas-guzzling private jet.
In March, the CEO defended his decision to purchase a Bombardier 7500, an aircraft believed to cost upwards of US$75m (AU$119.2m) and said the plane would allow him to be a 'present dad'.
'I'm not denying I have a deep internal conflict on this,' Mr Cannon-Brookes wrote on LinkedIn.
'There's a couple of reasons I've purchased a plane. Personal security is the primary reason (an unfortunate reality of my world), but also so I can run a global business from Australia, and still be a constantly present dad.'
The brutal redundancies at Atlassian fall on the same day the firm's other co-founder Scott Farquhar publicly praised the benefits of AI during a National Press Club of Australia appearance.
'Firstly, most people don't think about where their water or power comes from and people don't think about where AI comes from or where the AI they use on their phone comes from every day,' he said on Wednesday.
'There is a huge boom in creating data centres for the region and, beyond that, there is a huge boom in using AI for everyday life.
'Every person should be using AI daily for as many things as they can.
'Like any new technology, it will feel awkward to start with, but every businessperson, every business leader, every government leader and every bureaucrat should be using it.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sydney Morning Herald
2 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Does Australia's biggest contribution to global dining come from ... McDonald's?
Before flat whites surged through New York City, Aussie-inspired coffee was being poured at America's first McCafe in Chicago, back in 2001. Since its Melbourne creation in 1993, the McDonald's concept has taken off globally and McCafes now serve macarons in France and alfajores in Argentina. There are McCafes with bubble tea in China, zaatar croissants in Saudi Arabia and local coffee beans in Guatemala. 'I don't think it would be crazy to argue that Australian coffee culture is the country's biggest culinary contribution to the world, within which McCafe plays a major role as the delivery vehicle,' says Gary He, author of McAtlas: A Global Guide to the Golden Arches. The self-published book won the Reference, History and Scholarship category at the prestigious James Beard food media awards in June, held in Chicago. He, a US-based writer and photographer, travelled to McDonald's outlets across six continents to document the fast-food chain's surprising diversity. The project, started in 2018, has taken him to more than 50 countries, from Sweden's McSki to Germany's McBoat and New Zealand's Taupo location which incorporates an actual plane.
The Age
2 hours ago
- The Age
Does Australia's biggest contribution to global dining come from ... McDonald's?
Before flat whites surged through New York City, Aussie-inspired coffee was being poured at America's first McCafe in Chicago, back in 2001. Since its Melbourne creation in 1993, the McDonald's concept has taken off globally and McCafes now serve macarons in France and alfajores in Argentina. There are McCafes with bubble tea in China, zaatar croissants in Saudi Arabia and local coffee beans in Guatemala. 'I don't think it would be crazy to argue that Australian coffee culture is the country's biggest culinary contribution to the world, within which McCafe plays a major role as the delivery vehicle,' says Gary He, author of McAtlas: A Global Guide to the Golden Arches. The self-published book won the Reference, History and Scholarship category at the prestigious James Beard food media awards in June, held in Chicago. He, a US-based writer and photographer, travelled to McDonald's outlets across six continents to document the fast-food chain's surprising diversity. The project, started in 2018, has taken him to more than 50 countries, from Sweden's McSki to Germany's McBoat and New Zealand's Taupo location which incorporates an actual plane.
Sky News AU
2 hours ago
- Sky News AU
‘A slap in the face': Victorian ALP conference will debate higher taxes and radical polcy objectives
An ALP conference taking place in Victoria on Saturday will debate the need to raise taxes on residents, despite the state already being the most taxed in the country. A report obtained by the Herald Sun this week revealed conference will debate a number of reforms, including scrapping council rate increase caps and imposing a permanent Indigenous truth telling commission. The list also includes a super profits tax on land sales and legalizing cannabis for recreational use. The outcome of this conference will heavily determine the Victorian Labor Party's key policies and agenda in the lead up to the 2026 state election. More than 600 Labor delegates - including MPs, members and affiliated union representatives - will be voting in the conference on which proposals will be adopted. Institute of Public Affairs director of research Morgan Begg told the proposals that would increase taxes, including one to remove the council rate increase caps, is the last thing the state needs. 'Victorians already face the highest tax burden in the nation,' he said. 'The last thing Victorian councils need is the authority to inflict exorbitant rate rises on locals who never see the benefit of all the costs. 'So many councils in Victoria today are using ratepayers' money to push activist causes and the services and amenity of local communities are left to suffer.' Touching on the proposed super profits tax on land sales, IPA chief economist Adam Creighton said the taxes will lead to increasingly unaffordable housing. 'Another arbitrary tax on the sale of land, on top of existing federal taxes on capital gains and existing state charges, will only make landowners more reluctant to sell,' he told The Victorian ALP delegates on Saturday will also debate radical social issues, including the installation of a permanent truth telling commission. IPA Research Fellow Margaret Chambers said this would create a 'two-tiered, racially based political system' in Victoria. 'It is a slap in the face to Victorians who overwhelmingly rejected this divisive agenda at the Voice to Parliament referendum in 2023,' she said. 'It is unbelievable that Labor would seek to divide the community with a state-based truth telling body, as well as a state-based Voice to Parliament, given the democratic verdict.' The government's proposal to impose a permanent Indigenous truth telling commission comes as the Yoorrook Justice Commission, a temporary group of 5 commissioners, tabled its final report to Victorian Parliament in July. The delegates on Saturday will also debate the state government's planned anti-protest laws, with delegates arguing the laws will 'threaten the rights to freedom of expression' and would 'harm our democracy.' Victorian Shadow Police Minister David Southwick said tougher protest laws are essential for the state. 'Everyone has a right to protest peacefully, but under Labor, Victoria has become the protest capital of the nation where those who incite hate face no consequences,' he told
