Top 15 Famous Companies in Melbourne
Table of Content
Let’s get rolling with the top 15 Famous Companies in Melbourne – a famous Australian city that also happened to be where I live (so ignore the biases 😊).
This list comprises of the 15 famous Australian companies headquartered in the beautiful city of Melbourne.
Before I take you to the article, here is what you must know about Melbourne.
It is home to approx. 15000 businesses.
The city is known for its cafes and restaurant ventures (no wonder Melbourne has more than 2000 cafes and restaurants worldwide).
The city attracts people and businesses from across the world.
The city also ranks or has ranked in the top 10 cities to stay in the world for the last five years.
Now you know – Why I love Melbourne 😊.
Before we jump into the list – if you are interested, we have a list covering other famous cities in Australia:
- Sydney – List of Famous Companies in Sydney
- Perth – List of Famous Companies in Perth
- Adelaide – List of Famous Companies in Adelaide
- Brisbane – List of Famous Companies in Brisbane
- Canberra – List of Famous Companies in Canberra
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Time to move to the list of Famous Companies In Melbourne.
National Australia Bank (NAB)
CEO: Ross McEwan
Year of Establishment: 1982
Funding/Estimated Wealth: A$866.57 billion (2020)
Industry: Banking
National Australia Bank, popularly known as NAB, is one of the big four banks in Australia headquartered out of Melbourne.
MAB boasts of a large share of customers, earnings, and a good market capitalization in the Australian Banking Sector. (Source: Wikipedia)
NAB launched an ATM and named it after their mascot – a red kangaroo named Charlie. The ATM was the first of its kind anywhere in the world at the time.
The bank does well with initiatives that are recognized as one of the early adopters of Customer Relationship Management (CRM).
The National Australia Bank (NAB) is one of the largest banks in Australia.
The National Bank of Australasia Limited and The Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Limited combined im 1981 to form the National Commercial Banking Corporation of Australia Limited. Subsequently, it changed its name to National Australia Bank Limited (NAB). (Source: Company Storage).
In the year 2000, it was split into two – National Australia Bank and Westpac Banking Corporation.
As of May 2021, the National Australia Bank market capitalization figure was $68.1 billion. (Source: Forbes)
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ)
CEO: Shayne Elliott
Year of Establishment: 1951
Funding/Estimated Wealth: A$978.9 billion
Industry: Banking
Like NAB, ANZ Bank is one of the big four banks in Australia with a presence across Australia, New Zealand, and 20 other countries.
ANZ provides a wide spectrum of banking and financial services, including personal, retail banking, wealth management, and insurance.
ANZ’s start goes back to as far as 1835 when the London based ‘The Bank of Australasia’ (year: 1835) and Union Bank of Australia (established year: 1837), which also happened to be the first bank to do business in New Zealand, merged in 1951 to form Australia and New Zealand Bank Limited (ANZ Bank).
In 1970, ANZ Bank and ES&A’s merger led to Australia’s third-largest bank, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ).
After the merger, the bank moved its head office from London to Melbourne (1976) and strengthened itself by acquiring the bank of Adelaide (1979).
ANZ further acquired Grindlays Bank (1984) and PostBank of New Zealand (1989) – thereby making ANZ the largest bank in Newzealand.
However, things take a turn for the bank during the 1992 Deep recession, and the bank reports a net loss of AUD 579 million.
In 1997, John McFarlane took over as CEO, and a massive restructuring was started, which led to the sale of Grindlays (2000) to Standard Chartered PLC.
In 2002, ANZ and ING Group formed ING Australia Limited, a funds management and life insurance joint venture operating in Australia and New Zealand. (Source: Reference for business)
The bank currently offers everything in financial services ranging from mortgage to banking to insurance.
BHP Group (BHP)
CEO: Mike Henry
Year of Establishment: 2001
Funding/Estimated Wealth: February 10, 2022, it is $101.48B.
Industry: Metals and Mining
BHP, the largest mining company globally, was established in 1885 under the name of BHP Billiton in the town of Broken Hill, Australia.
The Company is a renowned mining brand famous for mining silver, lead, zinc, and steel production.
In 1902, BHP began extracting silver, lead, and zinc, and further expanded its business by 1915 by entering the steel production market.
By 1986, the Company entered the oil business by acquiring Monsanto Oil and Gulf Energy Development in 1988.
At the start of the 21st century, BHP officially changed its name to BHP Limited.
In the next 4 years (2004) – it touched a revenue of approx. $25 billion.
In the year 2018, BHP Billiton Limited’s name was officially changed to BHP Group Limited and BHP Billiton Plc. officially changed to BHP Group Plc. (Source: Zippia)
Over the years, BHP has built a name for itself in the ASX stock exchange for delivering a strong return of more than 157% over the last 5 years and has delivered solid dividends to its stakeholders (source: Yahoo)
Rio Tinto Limited (RIO)
Name of Company: Rio Tinto Limited (RIO)
CEO: Jakob Stausholm
Year of Establishment: 1873
Funding/Estimated Wealth: US$97.390 billion (2020)
Industry: Metals and Mining
Rio Tinto Limited (Rio Tinto or the Company) is an Anglo-Australian multinational and the world’s second-largest metals and mining corporation.
The company closely follows BHP in producing copper, iron ore, gold, diamonds, and uranium. (Source: The Telegraph and The Guardian)
In 1873, Rio Tinto was established, when a multinational consortium of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tinto in Huelva, Spain.
In 2013, the Company produced the first concentrate from its newest operation and its first in Mongolia: the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine. (Source: Companies History)
RioTinto is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, and acts as Rio Tinto is an Anglo-Australian multinational and one of the world’s most significant metals and mining corporations.
Rio Tinto is a known leader in the area of finding, mining, and processing mineral resources. (Source: Rio Tinto)
As of May 2021, the Rio Tinto market capitalization figure was $135.3 billion. (Source: Forbes)
Telstra Corporation Limited (TLS)
CEO/Founder(s): Andrew Richard Penn
Year of Establishment: 1975
Funding/Estimated Wealth: A$42.1 billion (2017)
Industry: Telecommunications
Telstra Corporation Limited (popularly called Telstra) is a 140-year-old, Largest Australian Telecom company (revenue-wise) with a market cap of $25.2 billion.
It is one of the Biggest Tech Companies based out of Melbourne.
Telstra offers mobile, broadband, and pay-television services as its core services.
The Company’s history goes back to 1901 when the Postmaster-General’s Department in Australia was established to provide domestic telephone, telegraph, and postal services.
In 1975, Australian Telecommunications Commission was created as a separate entity, and in 1989, Australian Telecommunications Corporation Act established Austel.
In 1990, The Company further grew after the approved merger of Telecom and Overseas Telecommunications Commission (OTC) which was further changed to Australian and Overseas Telecommunications Corporation Limited (AOTC) (in 1992).
It was in 1993 when Telstra Corporation Limited got its official legal name.
By 1997, one-third of Telstra was officially listed on the Australian, New York, and New Zealand stock exchanges.
By 2000, the Company had gained global prominence by building a communications network to telecast the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games to more than 400 billion worldwide viewers. (Source: Reference for Business)
Today, Telstra has grown from a fixed-line, mobile & broadband service provider to a company that offers smart meters, cyber security solutions to the government, and a wide array of other services, including Telstra health.
Telstra aims to grow from a telecom company into a Tech Company that offers a wide range of services and products all across the tech spectrum and is not restricted to the telecommunication space (source: Startup Daily)
Afterpay Limited
Name of Company: Afterpay Limited
CEO: Nicholas Molnar
Year of Establishment: 2014
Funding/Estimated Wealth: $30.61 billion
Industry: Payment Services
Afterpay, started in 2014, is an Australian company that offers shoppers short-term financing options to shop now and pay later with no interest.
The company was started by Nick Molnar, a Famous Rich Australian Entrepreneur.
The Company was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2016 with an IPO of $25 million.
Afterpay ventured into the US retail market and made its name known when Matrix Partners invested $19.4 million into the Company.
In 2018, Afterpay fully launched in the US alongside retailers like Free People, Anthropologie, and Urban Outfitters. (Source: Business News Australia)
For a company that has not spent many years in the US, Afterpay has gathered around 5 million active customers in the US with 6,500 merchants. (Sources: Financial Review and The Motley Fool Australia)
Recently – Square, a company owned by Jack Dorsey (Twitter co-founder), acquired Afterpay for $39 billion. (Source: Smart Company)
Amcor Limited (AMC)
Name of Company: Amcor Limited
CEO: Ron Delia
Year of Establishment: 1860s
Funding/Estimated Wealth: US$17.2 billion (30th June 2021)
Industry: Packaging
Amcor Limited is a dual-listed company listed on New York Stock Exchange and Australian Securities Exchange.
The Company develops and produces flexible packaging, especially, cartons, rigid containers, and closures and services for beverage, food, medical device, pharmaceutical, personal and home care, among others. (Source: Wikipedia)
In the 1970s and 1980s, Amcor added a range of diverse packaging interests to its traditional paper making activities; business partnerships and strategic acquisitions expanded and diversified the Company’s activities.
With this growth, the company name of APM no longer suited its rapidly evolving, energetic Company.
In 2000, Amcor demerged its paper business from packaging businesses and began a decade of significant acquisition and growth, culminating in Amcor acquiring parts of Alcan from Rio Tinto in 2010. (Source: Amcor)
Amcor has acquired many companies, but its latest acquisition was in 2018 when it acquired a US-based manufacturer, Bemis Company, with its USD 5.25 billion in shares. (Source: Reuters)
Newcrest Mining (NCM)
Name of Company: Newcrest Mining (NCM)
CEO: Sandeep Biswas
Year of Establishment: 1966
Funding/Estimated Wealth: Net worth as of 09th February 2022 is $13.37B
Industry: Resources
Newcrest Mining is another Australian corporation involved in the exploration, development and mining, as well as the sale of gold-copper concentrate and gold. (Source: Wikipedia)
Headquartered in Melbourne, Newcrest is among the top 20 companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange by market capitalization.
NCM has around 5,100 employees and long-term contractors.
Newcrest has its mining operations in Australia, Ivory Coast, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea.
In 1980 the subsidiary became Newmont Holdings Pty Ltd and was based in Victoria, Australia.
NCM was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange as Newmont Australia Limited seven years later.
In 1990, the Company acquired 100% of Australmin Holdings Ltd and 92% of BHP Gold Mines Ltd; it acquired its current company name.
As of May 2021, Newcrest Mining market capitalization figure was $17.5 billion. (Source: Forbes)
Coles Group (COL)
Name of Company: Coles Group (COL)
CEO: Steven Cain
Year of Establishment: April 1914
Funding/Estimated Wealth: A$9.777 billion (2019)
Industry: Consumer staples
Coles Group Limited operates different retail chains, especially in food and groceries, which it sells through its Cole flagship of supermarkets.
Coles also retails petrol and liquor through its Cole Express outlets.
In 1914, George Coles founded Coles after opening its first shop called “Coles Variety Store” on Smith Street in Melbourne. (Source: Reference for Business)
By that time war ended in 1946, Coles began selling electrical appliances such as toasters and irons.
And By the mid-50s, Coles stores started converting into self-service stores, paving a path for the trend that is going to capture the supermarket industry in the 21st century.
In 1987, the Coles Myer corporate headquarters was opened in Tooronga, Victoria, by Prime Minister Bob Hawke.
The company was known as Coles Myer Limited from 1985-to 2006. Coles sold Myer in 2006 and returned to its heritage as a food retailer.
In 2007, Coles was acquired by another iconic Australian company, Wesfarmers.
Coles changed its name to Coles in 2018. (Source: Wikipedia)
Orica Limited (ORI)
Name of Company: Orica Limited (ORI)
CEO: Sanjeev Gandhi
Year of Establishment: 1974
Funding/Estimated Wealth: AUD 5.1 billion (2016) Revenue
Industry: Metals, mining, oil and gas, construction, tunneling
Orica Limited is an Australian multinational corporation that is into blasting systems and commercial explosives for the oil and gas, mining, construction markets, etc., on a global level.
Established in 1874 as a supplier of explosives to the Victorian goldfields in Australia.
Today, Orica is one of the leading publicly-owned companies listed on the ASX
Several acquisitions by Orica’s Chemnet business have taken the business into new categories and new geographies.
Significant capacity expansions at its Yarwun and Kooragang Island ammonium nitrate plants and the acquisition of parts of Dyno Nobel’s commercial explosives business are all part of it.
Orica manufactures products for various industries such as mining, oil and gas, power generation, explosives, water treatment, building products, and road safety.
Orica also offers a wide array of products, including ammonia, caustic soda, chlorine, and sodium hydroxide solutions. (Source: Orica)
Orica’s revenue as of 2016 stood at $5.1 billion. The profit which was attributed to the Company’s shareholders after the end of the year in September of the same year was $343 million. (Source: Orica Reports)
Transurban Group (TCL)
Name of Company: Transurban Group (TCL)
CEO: Scott Charlton
Year of Establishment: 1996
Funding/Estimated Wealth: FY18 revenue ($3.3b)
Industry: Toll road networks
Transurban Group is an Australian financial service and investment group which operates across three main business segments.
The Company is the largest road operator in Australia. It owns and operates the toll road network of CityLink, EastLink, and the Western Link, which form the two largest urban toll road networks in Australia.
Transurban also has a 50% interest in Cross City Tunnel and 100% ownership of Melbourne’s CityLink Concession Company.
The Company operates through four main geographical segments – Sydney, Melbourne, Greater Washington Area, and Brisbane.
The business operations Transurban is involved in include Customer Relationship Management, Operations and Maintenance, Network Planning and Forecasting, Technology Application, and Project Development and Delivery. (Source: Ibis World)
As of May 2021, the Transurban market capitalization figure was $29.4 billion. (Source: Forbes)
Transurban has grown massively that it now has stakes in six motorways in Brisbane and Sydney.
CSL Limited (CSL)
Name of Company: CSL Limited (CSL)
CEO: Paul Perreault
Year of Establishment: 1916
Funding/Estimated Wealth: USD$1.919 billion (2019) Net Income
Industry: Biotechnology
The Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL) Limited is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.
CSL Limited has a global workforce of over 10,000 people and has operations in more than 25 countries.
In 1994, Commonwealth was privatized and then took on the name CSL Ltd. The Company also started trading on the Australian Securities Exchange in the same year. (Source: ASX)
Its experience with influenza dates back almost 100 years when it produced vaccine during the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1919.
The operation commenced plasma fractionation in 1952. And then, in 1953, the company founder started giving blood as a medical student in Sydney and continued until recently.
CSL doubled its size in 2000 when it acquired Swiss plasma company ZLB Bioplasma AG in Bern.
Its intention to acquire its latest acquisition, Vifor Pharma AG, for $11.7 billion was announced in December 2021. (Sources: WSJ and Reuters)
The Company received US Food and Drug Administration approval in 2016 and has since launched in 13 countries.
Bluescope Steel (BSL)
Name of Company: BlueScope Steel Limited
CEO: Mark R. Vassella
Year of Establishment: 15th July 2002
Funding/Estimated Wealth: $1.7 billion (2021) Net Income
Industry: Steel
BlueScope Steel Limited is a steel producer based in Australia, after BHP Billiton spin-off its steel in 2002.
BlueScope Steel became a stand-alone steel company in July 2002 after BHP announced in 2001 that it was merging with Anglo-African mining house Billiton to form BHPBilliton.
The announcement further included that the Company’s steel division would be spun out as separate Australian listed companies. (Source: Blue Scope Illawarra)
BlueScope’s steel factory is located in the heart of Port Kembla. It is a large facility that produces and recycles steel for the construction industry and supplies the local market with steel for domestic use.
Bluescope was established in 1907 by William Alexander Blues and Walter Scott Houston, two American-born steelmakers from Alabama.
Bluescope Steel has been operating in the Illawarra since 1922, growing from modest beginnings to over 2400 employees spread across 5 different locations.
In 2007, BlueScope acquired four companies that an Argentinian firm, Ternium, held. The four companies – ASC Profiles, Steelscape, Metl-Span, and Varco Pruden Buildings all consisted of United States holdings. (Source: Wikipedia)
As of May 2019, BlueScope Steel’s market capitalization was $5.2 billion. (Source: Forbes)
REA Group (REA)
Name of Company: REA Group (REA)
CEO: Owen Wilson
Year of Establishment: 1995
Funding/Estimated Wealth: A$928 million (2021) Revenue
Industry: Share Exchange
REA Group is a global online real estate advertising company with its headquarters in Melbourne.
Other subsidiary offices are located in Hong Kong, Wanchai, and Gurugram, India. (Source: REA Group)
The Company began as a single office in Melbourne but now has over 1000 employees working across the country.
REA also owns many other businesses. For example, it also has REA Publications – a book publishing business that publishes books, magazines, and newspapers.
REA Group, in 2021, acquired a 34 percent interest in a lodgment and digital mortgage application solutions company, Simpology Pty Limited, for lending and broking industries. (Source: Elite Agent)
The Company is also into community care and partnered with Launch Housing in 2014 to provide funds for homeless women and children in various capacities. (Source: Launch Housing)
Computershare Limited (CPU)
Name of Company: Computershare Limited (CPU)
CEO: Stuart Irving
Year of Establishment: 1978
Funding/Estimated Wealth: US$92.1m (up 27% from 1H 2021).
Industry: Financial services
Computershare Limited is an Australian company that is into stock transfer, corporate trust and employee share plan services in several countries.
It has offices in 20 countries, including Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and others. (Source: Wikipedia)
The Company, started in Melbourne in 1978, has since grown in leaps and bounds through its overseas acquisitions.
Computershare majorly provides transfer services to different companies and also provides stock registration.
Computershare also runs the Deposit Protection Service. A UK Government accredited custodial Company that runs a tenancy deposit protection scheme. (Source: Property118)
As of October 2020, Computershare Limited has a market capitalization of $14.8 billion. (Source: Forbes)
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