4 ms·

Is Atlassian not considered Australian? (Well, I guess it's public now.)

lurr 9y ago
My first thought as well. Are they excluded for going public? Weren't they over a billion well before that? Or did they not take outside money?
ProAm 9y ago
Pretty sure they moved years ago because of taxes. [1] [1] http://www.afr.com/leadership/entrepreneur/atlassian-leads-charge-of-startups-abandoning-australia-over-tax-20140107-jyc34 http://www.afr.com/leadership/entrepreneur/atlassian-leads-c...
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- i386 9y ago
  Just because your company is incorporated in Delaware does not mean its running the show there.
  - ProAm 9y ago
    Sure, I was thinking that may have been why they were not considered an Australian unicorn in regards to the article in question.
glangdale 9y ago
They are UK-headquartered and list on the NASDAQ. Not sure what proportion of employees are Australian and spiritually I would still claim them as Australian. They would also have comfortably been a unicorn-level company before the UK restructure and the listing, with substantial profits.
- chrisco255 9y ago
  Nope, Atlassian's HQ is Sydney. Definitely Australian-based.
  - adventured 9y ago
    Atlassian is legally domiciled in the UK, not Sydney. Their legal appears to mostly be HQ'd in San Francisco per all their legal documents. I understand that doesn't mean they aren't primarily operating out of Sydney, although I don't know how one would say that definitely given the distribution (unless eg that's where all their core management operates?). How many employees do they have in Sydney? Where does the top management primarily operate from?
    - ajdlinux 9y ago
      I'd rely on the fact that the company contact page lists "Sydney (HQ)" as the first office, followed by "San Francisco (HQ)" and then the non-HQ offices, as an assertion that they consider themselves to be an Australian-based company. As for top management, I believe both their co-CEOs are Sydney-based, and Mike Cannon-Brookes is well known for his occasional forays into Australian politics and public affairs...
    - bigiain 9y ago
      > How many employees do they have in Sydney? Based on sightings of dudebros wearing branded shwag in coffee shops and bars around here, I'd say quite a lot...
      - siquick 9y ago
        Saw a guy on the train the other day wearing Atlassian socks (with beige sandals).
    - jjcm 9y ago
      > How many employees do they have in Sydney? Currently 1053 - by far our largest office. According to our people directory, we have no active employees in the UK.
glenngillen 9y ago
I’m going to guess that the “privately backed” qualifier either disqualifies them because they’re now public, or because they reached the $1B valuation before they took VC money. Similar story with most other AU companies that have reached that level, local IPO early or reach the valuation without institutional money. The latter also meaning valuation is pure external speculation.
chrisco255 9y ago
Atlassian is certainly an Australian company. HQ is Sydney, both co-founders are Australian, and probably more employees in that office than any other.
flgb 9y ago
Atlassian is definitely Australian. But if we count them, there are a lot more Australian tech businesses worth more than US$1B: Acconex was just bought by Oracle for US$1.2B, and we have tech businesses from the last web boom like Seek.com (~US$5B), or going even further back, businesses like MYOB (~US$1.7B).

lurr 9y ago

My first thought as well. Are they excluded for going public? Weren't they over a billion well before that? Or did they not take outside money?

ProAm 9y ago

Pretty sure they moved years ago because of taxes. [1] [1] http://www.afr.com/leadership/entrepreneur/atlassian-leads-charge-of-startups-abandoning-australia-over-tax-20140107-jyc34 http://www.afr.com/leadership/entrepreneur/atlassian-leads-c...

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
i386 9y ago
Just because your company is incorporated in Delaware does not mean its running the show there.
- ProAm 9y ago
  Sure, I was thinking that may have been why they were not considered an Australian unicorn in regards to the article in question.

glangdale 9y ago

They are UK-headquartered and list on the NASDAQ. Not sure what proportion of employees are Australian and spiritually I would still claim them as Australian. They would also have comfortably been a unicorn-level company before the UK restructure and the listing, with substantial profits.

chrisco255 9y ago
Nope, Atlassian's HQ is Sydney. Definitely Australian-based.
- adventured 9y ago
  Atlassian is legally domiciled in the UK, not Sydney. Their legal appears to mostly be HQ'd in San Francisco per all their legal documents. I understand that doesn't mean they aren't primarily operating out of Sydney, although I don't know how one would say that definitely given the distribution (unless eg that's where all their core management operates?). How many employees do they have in Sydney? Where does the top management primarily operate from?
  - ajdlinux 9y ago
    I'd rely on the fact that the company contact page lists "Sydney (HQ)" as the first office, followed by "San Francisco (HQ)" and then the non-HQ offices, as an assertion that they consider themselves to be an Australian-based company. As for top management, I believe both their co-CEOs are Sydney-based, and Mike Cannon-Brookes is well known for his occasional forays into Australian politics and public affairs...
  - bigiain 9y ago
    > How many employees do they have in Sydney? Based on sightings of dudebros wearing branded shwag in coffee shops and bars around here, I'd say quite a lot...
    - siquick 9y ago
      Saw a guy on the train the other day wearing Atlassian socks (with beige sandals).
  - jjcm 9y ago
    > How many employees do they have in Sydney? Currently 1053 - by far our largest office. According to our people directory, we have no active employees in the UK.

glenngillen 9y ago

I’m going to guess that the “privately backed” qualifier either disqualifies them because they’re now public, or because they reached the $1B valuation before they took VC money. Similar story with most other AU companies that have reached that level, local IPO early or reach the valuation without institutional money. The latter also meaning valuation is pure external speculation.

chrisco255 9y ago

Atlassian is certainly an Australian company. HQ is Sydney, both co-founders are Australian, and probably more employees in that office than any other.

flgb 9y ago

Atlassian is definitely Australian. But if we count them, there are a lot more Australian tech businesses worth more than US$1B: Acconex was just bought by Oracle for US$1.2B, and we have tech businesses from the last web boom like Seek.com (~US$5B), or going even further back, businesses like MYOB (~US$1.7B).