Len
Ainsworths wealth up $200m, doesnt notice
- 27th June 2014

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Len
Ainsworth says he doesnt sit around watching
share prices. Why would I? I cant do anything
about them. So I dont really care. Photo:
Nic Walker
Billionaire
Len Ainsworth laughed when told sharemarket gains
made him one of the big winners on the coming BRW
Rich 200 list.
Read
the full
BRW Rich 200, with links to bios of every entrant.
No,
I dont sit around watching share prices,
the 90-year-old said.
Why
would I? I cant do anything about them. So I
dont really care.
Ainsworths
wealth reached $1.82 billion on the BRW Rich 200 list
this year, published in the AFR Magazine ?on
Friday, enough for him to place 19th, up $200 million
from 2013.
Although
he chairs poker machine maker Ainsworth Game Technology,
a large portion of his familys wealth is derived
from rival Aristocrat Leisure.
A
rising Aristocrat share price has increased the family
wealth by about $160 million over the past 12 months.
Since
January 1, Aristocrat shares have risen about 15 per
cent and offset a similar decline in Ainsworth Game
Technology stock.
Aristocrat,
ironically, was founded by Ainsworth in the 1950s.
Yet the billionaire does not hold any direct shares
in the company now, a result of a deal he struck with
the rest of his family 20 years ago.
After
being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1994, Ainsworth
handed control and ownership of Aristocrat to
his seven sons, Geoff, Stephen, Mark, Paul, Simon,
Kjerulf and Christian, his wife Gretel and ex-wife
Betty.
Family
stake remains intact
In
a move designed to keep the family stake intact, a
condition of the deal was that if they sold their
shareholding in his lifetime they would have to pay
him a chunk of the proceeds.
Despite
a notable court case involving Kjerulf, the family
stake in Aristocrat remains intact and is worth close
to half of the Ainsworth fortune.
Theyre
doing all right and trying to pick up the American
market, which you cant go too wrong with,
Ainsworth said.
Its
what we are trying to do [at Ainsworth Game Technology],
too.
He
is one of several on the Rich List to increase their
wealth this year due to surging share prices.
Andrew
and Paul Bassats combined wealth increased about
$150 million to $465 million thanks to share gains
in SEEK, the online job search company the brothers
co-founded.
The
value of John and Robert Kirbys stake in Village
Roadshow increased close to $100 million in a year,
enough to boost their wealth to $590 million.
Stockmarket
vagaries also mean some Rich Listers have lost money.
Wotif.coms
Wood loses place
In
the case of Wotif.com founder Graeme Wood, sliding
share prices mean his wealth fell enough to knock
him off the list this year.
Wood
debuted on the Rich List in 2007 with $251 million.
The value of his Wotif stake has halved over the past
12 months to about $105 million.
In
that time, though, Wood has continued his donation
of Wotif shares to the University of Queensland Endowment
Fund and sold off some of his stake on the market.
His latest substantial shareholder notice lodged to
the ASX in November showed he had given 4.3 million
shares to UoQ since his previous notice in June 2011.
It
also revealed Wood had sold more than $18 million
of shares in two transactions, about $10 million in
December 2012 and $8.9 million in October 2013.
Other
notable stockmarket losers include Peter Bond, the
managing director of Linc Resources whose shares
have fallen enough to cut $170 million from his wealth
this year and Silviu Itescu of Mesoblast. After
a stellar run in recent years, a falling share price
cut his wealth by 10 per cent after reaching $400
million on last years list.
The
BRW Rich 200 is out on Friday, June 27, inside AFR
Magazine, and online at BRW.com.au.
(BRW)
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