Atlassian overview
Atlassian makes software that helps teams organize and track their work. Its best-known product, Jira, began as a bug tracker for software developers and grew into one of the most widely used project management tools in the world. Around it, the company has assembled a suite that covers documentation with Confluence, visual task boards with Trello, recorded video messages with Loom and source-code hosting with Bitbucket.
Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar started the company in Sydney in 2002, shortly after graduating from the University of New South Wales, funding it with around A$10,000 on credit cards. Atlassian became known for an unusual go-to-market model: instead of relying on a large field sales force, it published its prices, sold its products online and let word of mouth among developers drive adoption. That approach, combined with a steady run of acquisitions, carried the company to a Nasdaq listing in December 2015.
Over the past several years Atlassian has moved its customers from self-hosted software to the cloud. It stopped selling new Server licenses in 2021 and ended support for them in 2024, and in 2025 it announced that its self-managed Data Center editions will reach end of life in March 2029. At the same time, it has rebuilt its products around a shared data layer it calls the Teamwork Graph and an AI assistant named Rovo, which can search, summarize and take action across Atlassian and third-party apps.
Although it keeps its global headquarters in Sydney and a large hub in San Francisco, Atlassian reorganized in 2022 so that its parent company, Atlassian Corporation, is domiciled in the United States. It reported revenue of about $6.6 billion for the fiscal year that ended in June 2026 and employs more than 13,000 people, many of whom work remotely under a distributed-work policy the company calls Team Anywhere.
Software by Atlassian
5 products profiled, from Jira (2002) to Loom (2016).
- JiraProject and issue tracking for software and business teams Project Management 2002 Freemium
- ConfluenceA team wiki for documentation, knowledge bases and meeting notes Productivity & Collaboration 2004 Freemium
- TrelloKanban-style boards, lists and cards for organizing any project Project Management 2011 Freemium
- LoomAsync video messaging for recording and sharing screen walkthroughs Productivity & Collaboration 2016 Freemium
- BitbucketGit code hosting and CI/CD built to work closely with Jira Developer Tools 2008 Freemium
Atlassian history and milestones
- 2002
Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar found Atlassian in Sydney and release the first version of Jira.
- 2004
Atlassian launches Confluence, a wiki for team documentation.
- 2010
Accel invests $60 million, the company’s first outside funding, and Atlassian acquires code-hosting service Bitbucket.
- 2015
Atlassian goes public on the Nasdaq in December under the ticker symbol TEAM.
- 2017
Atlassian buys Trello, the visual task-board app, for about $425 million.
- 2018
Atlassian acquires incident alerting tool Opsgenie and sells the HipChat and Stride chat products to Slack.
- 2021
Atlassian stops selling new Server licenses as it moves customers to its cloud and Data Center editions.
- 2022
A corporate reorganization makes US-domiciled Atlassian Corporation the parent company of the group.
- 2023
Atlassian completes its acquisition of video messaging company Loom for roughly $975 million.
- 2024
Atlassian launches its Rovo AI assistant, and Scott Farquhar steps down as co-CEO, leaving Mike Cannon-Brookes as sole CEO.
- 2025
Atlassian agrees to buy The Browser Company and DX, and sets March 2029 as the end-of-life date for its Data Center products.
Who founded Atlassian?
Mike Cannon-Brookes
Co-founder; CEO (co-CEO from 2002 to 2024)
Mike Cannon-Brookes co-founded Atlassian in 2002 after studying information systems at the University of New South Wales, where he met Scott Farquhar. The two ran the company as co-CEOs for more than two decades, an unusual arrangement that lasted until Farquhar stepped back in 2024, leaving Cannon-Brookes as sole chief executive.
Outside Atlassian, Cannon-Brookes is one of Australia’s most prominent climate investors. Through his investment firm Grok Ventures he has backed large renewable energy projects, and in 2022 he built a major stake in AGL Energy and successfully opposed its plan to split in two, pressing instead for a faster exit from coal power.
Scott Farquhar
Co-founder; co-CEO from 2002 to 2024
Scott Farquhar co-founded Atlassian with Mike Cannon-Brookes in 2002, shortly after the two graduated from the University of New South Wales. As co-CEO he helped shape the company’s self-serve sales model and its culture, and he led Atlassian through its 2015 initial public offering alongside Cannon-Brookes.
Farquhar stepped down as co-CEO at the end of August 2024, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family and on outside interests, while staying on as a board member and adviser. He has also been a prominent voice on Australian technology policy and investment.
How Atlassian makes money
Atlassian earns most of its revenue from subscriptions. Cloud products such as Jira and Confluence are sold per user on tiered plans, typically Free, Standard, Premium and Enterprise, while organizations that run the software on their own infrastructure pay for Data Center term licenses, which are being phased out by 2029. Cloud subscriptions are now the company’s largest and fastest-growing source of revenue.
The company is also known for a low-touch sales model. Many customers start on a free plan or trial, buy online without speaking to a salesperson and expand as more teams join, although Atlassian has built out enterprise sales teams in recent years. The Atlassian Marketplace adds another revenue stream: thousands of third-party apps extend its products, and Atlassian takes a share of those app sales.
Who owns and runs Atlassian?
Mike Cannon-Brookes has been Atlassian’s sole CEO since September 2024, after co-leading the company with Scott Farquhar for more than 20 years. Shona Brown, a former Google executive, chairs the board. Atlassian is a public company listed on the Nasdaq; its co-founders hold large stakes, and Class B shares with enhanced voting rights give them significant influence over company decisions.
- Mike Cannon-BrookesCo-founder and CEO
- Shona BrownChair of the board
- Scott FarquharCo-founder; co-CEO from 2002 to 2024
Atlassian: frequently asked questions
Who founded Atlassian?
Atlassian was founded in 2002 by Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, two University of New South Wales graduates who started the company in Sydney with about A$10,000 of credit card debt. The pair ran it as co-CEOs until 2024, when Farquhar stepped down and Cannon-Brookes became the sole CEO.
Who owns Atlassian?
Atlassian is a publicly traded company listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker TEAM, so it is owned by its shareholders, including large institutional investors. Co-founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar remain among its largest individual shareholders, and their Class B shares carry extra voting rights.
Who is the CEO of Atlassian?
Mike Cannon-Brookes is the CEO of Atlassian. He co-founded the company in 2002 and shared the chief executive role with Scott Farquhar until Farquhar stepped down at the end of August 2024, making Cannon-Brookes the sole CEO.
Where is Atlassian headquartered?
Atlassian’s global headquarters is in Sydney, Australia, where it was founded, and it has a major US hub in San Francisco. Since a 2022 reorganization, its parent company, Atlassian Corporation, has been domiciled in the United States, and many employees work remotely under its Team Anywhere policy.
What software does Atlassian make?
Atlassian’s best-known products are Jira for project and issue tracking, Confluence for team documentation, Trello for kanban-style boards, Loom for recorded video messages and Bitbucket for Git code hosting. It also sells Jira Service Management for IT support teams and offers Rovo, an AI assistant that works across its apps.
Is Atlassian a public company?
Yes. Atlassian listed on the Nasdaq in December 2015 under the ticker symbol TEAM. Its publicly traded shares are Class A common stock, while the co-founders hold Class B shares that carry greater voting power.
How does Atlassian make money?
Atlassian makes most of its money from subscriptions to its cloud software, sold per user on tiered plans, plus term licenses for its self-managed Data Center editions. It also earns a share of sales from third-party apps sold on the Atlassian Marketplace.
Sources
- Atlassian company overview atlassian.com
- Atlassian investor relations investors.atlassian.com
- Welcoming The Browser Company to Atlassian atlassian.com
- Atlassian Data Center end of life atlassian.com
- Atlassian, Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org
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