Atlassian's Scott Farquhar to step down as co-CEO, Mike Cannon ...

Mr Farquhar added, “We’ve taken turns taking the bins out in our first office, so we’ve done every job equally over that period of time.

“We have shared and divvied up those responsibilities between us ... I don’t think there is anything Mike hasn’t done before that he’ll be picking up.”

Mr Farquhar said he decided to step down after 23 years to spend more time with his family and on philanthropic endeavours.

“While it’s a difficult decision to step away, I do so knowing Atlassian is exceptionally positioned to take hold of the massive opportunities at its feet,” he said.

Mike Cannon-Brookes: “Scott and I have both worn every hat over the last two decades. So I’m confident in taking over full responsibility of the company.”  Eddie Jim

Shares in Atlassian, which makes communication and project management software, fell 6 per cent in after-hours trading on Wall Street following the announcement.

It is not at all unusual for a founder of a large technology company to stand back and let others take the reins. Indeed, with the notable exceptions of Amazon, Meta and Dell, few large tech companies are still run by their founders.

The closest comparison with Atlassian would have to be Google, whose founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin both stepped back after 21 years (not quite as long as Mr Farquhar lasted at Atlassian), describing themselves as “proud parents” who would stay on the board to offer the company “advice and love, but not daily nagging”.

Since Mr Brin and Mr Page handed full control of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, to Google’s then-CEO Sundar Pichai in 2019, shares in Alphabet have more than doubled in value, from $US65 on the day of the handover to an all-time-high of $160.79 this month.

Richard White, the chief executive and founder of another local software giant, WiseTech, said he admired what the Atlassian co-founders had built as well as their contribution to philanthropy and the local tech sector.

“Being a founder myself, I recognise that this decision to step down is really big for him,” Mr White said. “Given the size and reach of Atlassian and its products, and the deeply embedded product-led strategy built by both Mike and Scott, I am sure its success will continue.”

Atlassian builds software tools used by engineers to manage the development, deployment and operation of IT systems in organisations. Atlassian has more than 11,000 employees and over $US4 billion in annual revenue.

However, the technology company is still unprofitable and analysts have raised concerns that its growth is slowing.

The founders bootstrapped Atlassian for the first eight years after launching in what Mr Cannon-Brookes has called the “nuclear winter for tech start-ups” of 2002, before taking investment from US venture capital firm Accel.

Mr Cannon-Brookes and Mr Farquhar are set to appear once again on this year’s Financial Review Rich List with an estimated net worth of $24.4 billion and $22.9 billion respectively.

Their Atlassian shareholdings make up the lion’s share of their wealth, but both have significant real estate, venture capital and energy assets as well. The after-hours share price plunge stands to knock almost $US980 million off their respective valuations.

David Hynes, a US-based analyst with Canaccord Genuity, noted the CEO transition “won’t be particularly impactful” to the company’s operations or road map.

“Management emphasised that Mr Cannon-Brookes and Mr Farquhar have shared responsibilities over the years and have remained aligned on the strategic direction of the business.”

Mr Hynes, who has a buy recommendation on the stock, is bullish on the company’s medium- to long-term growth but is “somewhat cautious with respect to its near-term cloud growth prospects relative to what the Street’s currently projecting”.

For the quarter ended March 31, Atlassian reported revenue of $US1.2 billion, up 30 per cent on the same quarter a year ago, with subscription revenue growing 41 per cent year-over-year.

Atlassian reported net income of $US12.8 million for the quarter, compared with a net loss of $US209 million for the third quarter of the previous financial year. For the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, Atlassian expects total revenue to be in the range of $US1.12 billion to $US1.13 billion.