Do we like them?

Do we like Mike Cannon-Brookes?

Our score: 7 out of 10. No harmful words or acts turned up and the climate spending is real, but the staff disputes and the jet-and-F1 optics cost him a few points.

Mike Cannon-Brookes co-founded Atlassian with Scott Farquhar and has run the software giant solo since Farquhar stepped down as CEO in September 2024. It's the source of his fortune and his public profile, and it's also where most of his current heat comes from.

The messiest story is a former Atlassian engineer who was fired in June 2023 after Slack posts about Cannon-Brookes, following an all-hands call about a restructure. US labour board prosecutors alleged the sacking was retaliation; Atlassian's lawyer argued “Just because it was a CEO doesn't excuse the conduct.” She told Bloomberg she denies calling him a “rich jerk”, and says her goal was to support colleagues.

In July 2026 a labour board judge found Atlassian fired her for “protected concerted activity” and ordered her reinstated, noting the company hadn't shown that others posting similar comments were disciplined. Atlassian said it would be inappropriate to comment while the matter is ongoing, and it can still be appealed. To be fair, it's the company in the dock, not Cannon-Brookes personally, but it was his comments and his plan at the centre of it.

On the harm test, the record is clean from what we could find: no attacks on LGBTQ+ people, women or migrants, and nothing on vaccines or conspiracy theories. We found nothing from him on trans issues or Pride either way, so call that a gap, not a tick. In 2023 he and Farquhar told staff Atlassian would stand behind the Yes vote in the Voice referendum, while stressing that how staff voted was a personal choice.

The climate side is where it gets awkward. In 2022 he took an 11 per cent stake in AGL and campaigned against its demerger plan, saying the split made “no sense, or cents.” Yet in 2025 he defended a private jet and Atlassian's F1 sponsorship, admitting a “deep internal conflict” about the jet. Critics see hypocrisy; he sees a trade-off he's chosen to make.

The staff stuff is the other blot. In July 2025 Atlassian cut 150 customer-service jobs, announced in a prerecorded video from him; workers reportedly learned their status in an email 15 minutes later and had laptops blocked straight away. They were reportedly getting six months' pay, but it landed as cold, and the later “re-leveling” plan drew more fire.