John Elliott (businessman)
Encyclopedia
John Dorman Elliott is a former president of the Liberal Party
, and former president of Carlton Football Club
. In 2003 he was found guilty of trading while insolvent and in 2005 declared bankrupt
. He has frequently provoked controversy due to his political affiliations, his brushes with the law, and his abrasive personal style.
, in Kew
. He then attended the University of Melbourne
and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree and later completed a Master of Business Administration
degree at Melbourne Business School
.
& Co. From there, he and several partners acquired control of an Australian Stock Exchange
listed jam manufacturer - IXL
Ltd.
Elliott and his team built the company up through a string of acquisitions throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, including Australian corporate icons Elders Limited
, an agricultural services concern, Carlton and United Breweries now part of the Foster's Brewing Group and Australia's largest beer manufacturer, and Henry Jones IXL
food manufacturer.
During this time he was also a high-profile President of the Carlton Football Club
. He was an effective advocate for the club on a range of issues, and during his presidency the club won two VFL (now AFL) premierships
.
In 1985 Elliott's company - by then called Elders IXL - played an important role as a white knight
in fending off Robert Holmes à Court
's attempted takeover of diversified mining company BHP
. Elders bought a large share in BHP which blocked Holmes à Court's attempt to take control. As a result Elliott joined the BHP board. He then attempted a management buyout
of Elders, but this was unsuccessful and left his A$80 million fortune considerably reduced.
Subsequently the National Crime Authority
(NCA) investigated a foreign exchange transaction undertaken by Elders. Though one of his executives was jailed, Elliott was cleared of criminal charges. He accused the NCA of a vendetta inspired by the then Labor
government and motivated by his position as Liberal Party
President (which he held from 1987 to 1990). He later launched civil action for damages, which was ultimately unsuccessful.
In 1990, Elliot was a vocal supporter of the Multifunction Polis
(MFP), a controversial concept to build a new technology city with a population of 100,000 in Australia. At the time, the leader of the Liberal Party, Andrew Peacock
, was vehemently opposed to the plan, claiming the Multifunction Polis would become an "asian enclave".
, a position he had held for two decades. His term ended when the club was found to have breached the Australian Football League
's salary cap conditions, prompting large fines and other penalties. He was also blamed for Carlton winning the wooden spoon
in 2002. In a move some thought to be ungracious, given his long service, his name was removed from the club signs at its home ground, Optus Oval, Princes Park
.
Elliott's venture into rice
milling with Water Wheel Holdings led to a corporate collapse in 2000. In 2003 the Victorian Supreme Court
ordered him to pay grain suppliers, farmers and trade creditors A$1.4 million in compensation for allowing Water Wheel to trade while insolvent. He declared himself bankrupt in 2005, owing money to 14 creditors, including the Australian Taxation Office
, the Australian Crime Commission
, the Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions
and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission
.
He was caricatured in Rubbery Figures, a satirical rubber puppet series that screened in Australia in various forms from 1984 to 1990.
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
, and former president of Carlton Football Club
Carlton Football Club
The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
. In 2003 he was found guilty of trading while insolvent and in 2005 declared bankrupt
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
. He has frequently provoked controversy due to his political affiliations, his brushes with the law, and his abrasive personal style.
Education
He completed his secondary schooling at Carey Baptist Grammar SchoolCarey Baptist Grammar School
Carey Baptist Grammar School is an independent, co-educational, Christian, international, day school consisting of four campuses in Victoria, Australia - Kew , Donvale , the Carey Sports Complex in Bulleen and an outdoor education camp near Paynesville in eastern Gippsland called Carey...
, in Kew
Kew, Victoria
Kew is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Boroondara. At the 2006 Census, Kew had a population of 22,516....
. He then attended the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree and later completed a Master of Business Administration
Master of Business Administration
The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
degree at Melbourne Business School
Melbourne Business School
Melbourne Business School is a business school located in Melbourne, Australia that has been ranked in the Financial Times since 2005 and The Economist Top 20 in the World. MBS was placed as the second best business school in the Asia-Pacific in the 2010 QS Global 200 Business Schools Report....
.
Career
Elliott joined the global consulting firm McKinseyMcKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company, Inc. is a global management consulting firm that focuses on solving issues of concern to senior management. McKinsey serves as an adviser to many businesses, governments, and institutions...
& Co. From there, he and several partners acquired control of an Australian Stock Exchange
Australian Stock Exchange
The Australian Securities Exchange was created by the merger of the Australian Stock Exchange and the Sydney Futures Exchange in July 2006. It is the primary stock exchange group in Australia....
listed jam manufacturer - IXL
IXL
IXL can refer to any of the following:* Henry Jones IXL, an Australian manufacturer of jams and other foods* iXL , an American interactive agency during the late 1990s* IXL, Oklahoma* A railway interlocking...
Ltd.
Elliott and his team built the company up through a string of acquisitions throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, including Australian corporate icons Elders Limited
Elders Limited
Elders Limited is an Australian based agribusiness company.It was founded in 1839 in South Australia by Alexander Lang Elder as a new arm of his family's Scottish based merchant and shipping business. Its core business was a trading company and commission agent for wool and other agricultural...
, an agricultural services concern, Carlton and United Breweries now part of the Foster's Brewing Group and Australia's largest beer manufacturer, and Henry Jones IXL
Henry Jones IXL
Henry Jones IXL is a company primarily known as a manufacturer of jams, conserves and sauces in Australia.-History:The company was first established by Henry Jones in Hobart in 1891 as H. Jones & Company. The company derived from Jones' employment with George Peacock's jam factory from 1874...
food manufacturer.
During this time he was also a high-profile President of the Carlton Football Club
Carlton Football Club
The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
. He was an effective advocate for the club on a range of issues, and during his presidency the club won two VFL (now AFL) premierships
AFL Grand Final
The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...
.
In 1985 Elliott's company - by then called Elders IXL - played an important role as a white knight
White knight (business)
In business, a white knight, or "friendly investor," may be a corporation or a person that intends to help another firm. There are many types of white knights...
in fending off Robert Holmes à Court
Robert Holmes à Court
Michael Robert Hamilton Holmes à Court was an entrepreneur who became Australia's first businessman worth over a billion dollars before dying suddenly of a heart attack in 1990.Holmes à Court was one of the world's most feared corporate raiders through the 1980s, having built his empire...
's attempted takeover of diversified mining company BHP
BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton is a global mining, oil and gas company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and with a major management office in London, United Kingdom...
. Elders bought a large share in BHP which blocked Holmes à Court's attempt to take control. As a result Elliott joined the BHP board. He then attempted a management buyout
Management buyout
A management buyout is a form of acquisition where a company's existing managers acquire a large part or all of the company.- Overview :Management buyouts are similar in all major legal aspects to any other acquisition of a company...
of Elders, but this was unsuccessful and left his A$80 million fortune considerably reduced.
Subsequently the National Crime Authority
National Crime Authority of Australia
The National Crime Authority was an Australian law enforcement agency established in 1984.In 2003 it was superseded by the Australian Crime Commission .The NCA was set up in the wake of the Costigan Commission into tax evasion and organised crime...
(NCA) investigated a foreign exchange transaction undertaken by Elders. Though one of his executives was jailed, Elliott was cleared of criminal charges. He accused the NCA of a vendetta inspired by the then Labor
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
government and motivated by his position as Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
President (which he held from 1987 to 1990). He later launched civil action for damages, which was ultimately unsuccessful.
In 1990, Elliot was a vocal supporter of the Multifunction Polis
Multifunction Polis
The Multifunction Polis was a controversial proposal for a planned community in Australia first proposed in 1987 which was abandoned in 1998....
(MFP), a controversial concept to build a new technology city with a population of 100,000 in Australia. At the time, the leader of the Liberal Party, Andrew Peacock
Andrew Peacock
Andrew Sharp Peacock AC, GCL , is a former Australian Liberal politician. He was a minister in the Gorton, McMahon and Fraser governments, and was federal leader of the Liberal Party of Australia 1983–1985 and 1989–1990...
, was vehemently opposed to the plan, claiming the Multifunction Polis would become an "asian enclave".
Later developments
After the 2002 AFL season Elliott was sacked as President of the Carlton Football ClubCarlton Football Club
The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
, a position he had held for two decades. His term ended when the club was found to have breached the Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
's salary cap conditions, prompting large fines and other penalties. He was also blamed for Carlton winning the wooden spoon
Wooden spoon (award)
A wooden spoon is a mock or real award, usually given to an individual or team which has come last in a competition, but sometimes also to runners-up. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous events...
in 2002. In a move some thought to be ungracious, given his long service, his name was removed from the club signs at its home ground, Optus Oval, Princes Park
MC Labour Park
Princes Park is an Australian rules football ground located at Princes Park in the inner Melbourne suburb of Carlton North, Victoria....
.
Elliott's venture into rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
milling with Water Wheel Holdings led to a corporate collapse in 2000. In 2003 the Victorian Supreme Court
Supreme Court of Victoria
The Supreme Court of Victoria is the superior court for the State of Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1852, and is a superior court of common law and equity, with unlimited jurisdiction within the state...
ordered him to pay grain suppliers, farmers and trade creditors A$1.4 million in compensation for allowing Water Wheel to trade while insolvent. He declared himself bankrupt in 2005, owing money to 14 creditors, including the Australian Taxation Office
Australian Taxation Office
The Australian Taxation Office is an Australian Government statutory agency and the principal revenue collection body for the Australian Government. The ATO has responsibility for administering the Australian federal taxation system and superannuation legislation...
, the Australian Crime Commission
Australian Crime Commission
The Australian Crime Commission is an Australian Government national criminal intelligence and investigation agency. It was formulated under the Australian Crime Commission Act which came into effect on 1 January 2003, establishing the ACC as a national statutory authority to combat serious and...
, the Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions
Director of Public Prosecutions
The Director of Public Prosecutions is the officer charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world...
and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission
Australian Securities and Investments Commission
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission is an independent Australian government body that acts as Australia's corporate regulator...
.
He was caricatured in Rubbery Figures, a satirical rubber puppet series that screened in Australia in various forms from 1984 to 1990.
External links
- John Elliott Full Biography at ICMI.com.au
- The John Elliot Report