Michael Heine

Michael Heine
Born	c. Template:Birth year and age
Nationality	Australian
Occupation	Businessman
Board member of	Netwealth
Father	Walter Heine
Relatives	Leslier Hine (brother)

Michael Heine (born ) is an Australian entrepreneur and billionaire. He is primarily recognized as the founder and managing director of Netwealth, a company specializing in funds management and financial technology, publicly traded on the ASX since its establishment in 1999. Earlier in his career, Heine worked alongside his father, Walter, and brother, Leslie, on various business ventures including Heine Brothers, Heine Management, Heine Finance, and Eurolynx.

Early life

Michael is the son of Walter Heine, who escaped antisemitic persecution in Germany during the 1930s before settling in Australia. In 1946, Walter launched Heine Brothers (Australasia) Pty Ltd, initially concentrating on food processing before diversifying into commodities trading.

After completing high school, Michael joined the family enterprise and did not pursue formal tertiary education.

Career

Upon their father's passing in 1978, Michael and Leslie assumed control of the family business. Michael briefly operated an investment company in England named Heine Bros England, which was dissolved in 1981. Subsequently, the brothers broadened their activities to include property management under Heine Management and mortgage finance through Heine Finance.

In 1986, they took their holding company Eurolynx public while retaining a 25% ownership. That year, Eurolynx acquired Wheatley Communications for AUD 90 million and soon after sold it to Hoyts for AUD 130 million, rebranding it as Hoyts Media. Although profits were later revised following asset revaluation, they maintained a 25% stake. In 1993, Heine Management acquired Australia's tallest building at the time, 120 Collins Street, for AUD 286 million.

Michael divested his interest in Heine Management to Mercantile Mutual, part of ING, in 1999 for AUD 112 million. Utilizing these funds, he established Netwealth with a small team focused on developing an online platform that allows financial advisers to oversee client investments across various products using sophisticated technology. The company reportedly required five to six years to reach profitability. Netwealth debuted on the ASX in 2017, with its stock price increasing by 44% on opening day.

Net worth

An estimate from 1990 by the Australian Financial Review valued Michael and Leslie Heine’s combined net worth at 140 million. By 2018, Michael's personal wealth had grown to 1.27 billion AUD, earning him billionaire status on the Financial Review Rich List. As of , his net worth was estimated at 4.36 billion AUD.

Year	Financial Review Rich List		Forbes Australia's 50 Richest
	Rank	Net worth (Template:AUD)	Rank	Net worth (Template:USD)
2018	Template:Nts Template:Up	$1.27 billion Template:Up
2019	Template:Nts Template:Up	$1.55 billion Template:Up
2020	Template:Nts Template:Up	$1.83 billion Template:Up
2021	Template:Nts Template:Up	$2.79 billion Template:Up
2022	Template:Nts Decrease	$2.80 billion Template:Up
2023	Template:Nts Decrease	$2.67 billion Decrease
2024	Template:Nts Template:Up	$3.83 billion Template:Up
2025	Template:Nts Decrease	$4.36 billion Template:Up

Legend
Icon	Description
Steady	Unchanged from previous year
Increase	Increased from previous year
Template:Loss	Decreased from previous year