The number of Australian billionaires has continued to grow, with pub barons, crypto gambling magnates and petrol station proprietors among the newcomers.
The country is home to a record 139 billionaires, with mining magnate Gina Rinehart leading the list with a net worth of $44.33billion.
After making their fortune in a raft of different and highly lucrative industries, several lesser-known faces are among the new additions.
Many have made their fortune from humble beginnings while others have continued to build on the foundations laid down for them by their family.
Here are the newest billionaires on The Australian newspaper’s Richest 250 list.
Sam Arnaout
Pub baron Sam Arnaout is worth an estimated $2.3billion
Pub baron Sam Arnaout is worth an estimated $2.3billion.
He is the chief executive officer of IRIS Capital with more than 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 NSW, are among his most well known establishments.
He bought the Lasseters Hotel in Alice Springs for $105million in 2021 making him the biggest employer in the Northern Territory.
Mr Arnaout continued his spending spree when he snapped up Canberra Casino in the ACT for $63million in 2022.
His billionaire status is rooted in humble beginnings with Mr Arnaout the son of refugees from Lebanon’s civil war.
Edward Craven
Mr Craven and his business partner Bijan Tehrani are the brains behind cryptocurrency casion and sports book Stake.com
Online gambling magnate Edward Craven is worth an estimated $2.01billion.
Mr Craven and his business partner Bijan Tehrani are the brains behind cryptocurrency casion and sports book Stake.com.
He has been building his property portfolio after snapping up a mansion in Toorak, Melbourne, for $38million in March 2022.
Mr Craven dropped another $88million on house in St Georges Road, in the same suburb, months later in August.
The unfinished house had stood idle for more than three decades earning the property its name, ‘ghost mansion’.
Mr Craven smashed the city’s previous record sale of $52.5million that was previously paid for Stonington Mansion in Malvern in 2018.
He was thought to be the mystery billionaire who tipped a waitress $10,000 at Gilson 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 and son duo worth an estimated $1.56billion
Logistics operators Terry and Arthur Tzaneros are a father and son duo worth an estimated $1.56billion.
The father and son duo started ACFS Port Logistics in 2005 and generate around $300million in revenue every year.
Their company makes a profit of $85million a year before tax and depreciation and employs more than 1,100 people across the country.
Terry and his wife Anne own one of the most expensive houses in Sydney after purchasing a Point Piper mansion for close to $40million in 2021.
Their son Arthur also bought a luxury home in nearby Vaucluse for $32million in the same year.
Nick Andrianakos and family
Petrol king turned property investor Nick Andrianakos has a net worth of $1.30billion.
Andrianakos comes from humble beginnings after moving from Greece to Melbourne in 1966.
He bought his first petrol station in 1973 and then created the Milemaker chain making him one of the biggest service station owners in the city.
He sold his chain to Caltex for $94million in 2016, but kept the freehold over the petrol stations.
Mr Andrianakos has expanded into the retail sector after acquiring a $135 million-plus half stake in Colonnades mall in Adelaide in 2022.
The multi-million dollar buy added to his $175million purchase of Adelaide tower, on Flinders Street, in 2020.
Johnny and Markus Kahlbetzer
Johnny and Markus Kahlbetzer (pictured) are brothers who are worth a combined $1.30billion
Johnny and Markus Kahlbetzer are brothers who are worth a combined $1.30billion.
Their father John made the family fortune as a rural landholder in Argentina and Australia.
They were once one of Australia’s biggest owners and operators of broad-acre farmland under their company Twynam Agricultural Group.
Their land would be used to produce grain, cattle, wool, cotton, rice and citrus.
His sons began to sell off the assets in the 2000s.
Markus has moved into property development and technology.
He is the CEO of 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 $1.19billion.
He is the founder of Shearwater Growth Equity and chairman of WiseTech Global.
Mr Gibbon has a long history in the financial services sector and worked as director of Monbeef and Photolibrary and chief executive of Russell Private Equity.
Greg Coffey
Investment firm identity Greg Coffey has a net worth of $1.12billion
Investment firm identity Greg Coffey has a net worth of $1.12billion.
He made his fortune in Gerson Lehrman Group in London with his money-making talents earning him the nickname, ‘Wizard of Oz’.
Mr Koffey retired at the age of 41 but returned to investing a decade later.
His property portfolio includes a $105million house in the Hamptons and a multi-million dollar townhouse in the Upper East Side in Manhattan.
Peter Freedman
Microphone businessman Peter Freedman has a net worth of $1.10billion.
His company Freedman Electronics sells its widely popular Rode brand of microphones all around the world.
Mr Freedman is a high school dropout who had to discontinue his studies to help out his father after he fell terribly ill.
The successful businessman now generates a staggering $300million a year in annual revenue.
Kim Cannon
Mortgage lender Kim Cannon is worth an estimated $1.08billion
Mortgage lender Kim Cannon is worth an estimated $1.08billion.
He runs one of the country’s biggest non-bank mortgage lenders Firstmac.
The company has 60,000 customers and manages a loan portfolio of $16billion.
Christian Beck
Software engineer Christian Beck is worth $1.03billion.
He is the brains behind LEAP Legal Software and search provider Infotrack, a program that provides services to the legal profession.
His rise to billionaire status is all the more impressive as Mr Beck taught himself how to code.
He has spent more than 10 years working with law firms and managed to pair his experience with coding in order to create his highly-profitable programs.
Ian Malouf
Waste management king Ian Malouf has a new worth of $1.03billion
Waste management king Ian Malouf has a new worth of $1.03billion.
He founded Dial-a-Dump in 1984 and built his business into a $577million empire that he eventually sold to Bingo Industries in 2021.
Mr Malouf maintains waste property holdings in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and he has diversified his business empire.
He rents out a collection of boats through his superyacht chartering business Ahoy Club.
Huang Bingwen
Manufacturer Huang Bingwen has a fortune totalling $1.02billion.
He has made his fortune in his manufacturing business Shantou Dongfeng Printing.
The company manufactures paper packaging for tobacco and other companies in China.
Mr Bingwen bought a luxury $60million mansion at Point Piper, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, in 2016.
Rod Spooner
Property magnate Rod Spooner just scrapes into the billionaire list with a new worth of exactly $1billion.
His family owns Caribbean Park in Melbourne – a commercial district that is comprised of hotels, restaurants, gyms and an office park.
The Spooner family had acquired 300 acrews of land in Scoresby in 1945 with the area becoming the high-profitable commercial district it is today.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk