Anthony Joseph Pratt (born 11 April 1960 in Melbourne, Victoria), an Australian businessman and billionaire, is the Executive Chairman of Visy Industries and Pratt Industries in America, which is the world’s largest privately owned packaging and paper company. According to the Financial Review Rich List 2019, Pratt and his family have a net worth of A$15 billion. Forbes assessed Pratt’s net worth in 2019 at US$6.8 billion; listing his sisters’ wealth independently.
Pratt is the son of the late Richard Pratt, a former manufacturing magnate and former president of the Carlton Football Club, and Jeanne Pratt AC, a philanthropist.
Pratt joined McKinsey & Co, a management consulting firm, in 1982 before joining Visy as joint General Manager of its board. In 1988, he became Deputy Chairman of Visy Industries. Three years later, he moved to the United States to lead the company’s expansion there. Over the next 15 years, Pratt Industries grew 15-fold in sales and earnings, through greenfield initiatives and the acquisition of several corrugated manufacturing companies that now form the heart of Pratt Industries. Company revenues grew from US$100 million in 1991; and by 2016 revenue was US$3 billion. During that time, Pratt Industries grew from the 46th largest corrugated box producer in the U.S. to the 5th largest. It is the only major paper container board company that is 100 percent recycled. In 2013, then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented Pratt with a proclamation declaring September 17, 2013, Pratt Industries Day. In 2016, Pratt was awarded the RISI North American Packaging CEO of the Year Award. That same year, Pratt opened a 100% recycled paper mill near Chicago, adding about US$1 billion to his wealth. It was officially opened by then-Governor Mike Pence. In March, 2017, Pratt opened his 68th factory, a box-making plant, with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker in Beloit. On May 4th, 2017, Pratt pledged in the presence of President Donald Trump to invest $2 billion to create 5,000 high-paying manufacturing jobs over 10 years mainly in the Midwest. In August 2017, in the presence of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Pratt made a further investment pledge of A$2 billion in Visy Australia to create 5,000 Australian manufacturing jobs. That same week Pratt, pledged to give away A$1 billion to charity before he dies.
Although Pratt remains Chairman of the American arm of the family’s packaging business, he returned to Australia to take over as Executive Chairman of Visy following the death of his father, Richard, in 2009. Visy’s corporate reputation index ranking went from #43 to #3 between 2009 and 2011.
Pratt first appeared on the Financial Review (AFR) Rich List in 2009 (then published as the BRW Rich 200, following the death of his father earlier that year. He debuted as the richest person in Australia with a net worth of A$4.3 billion. In subsequent years, his wealth increased; however, those with interests in the then rapidly growing Australian resources sector came to dominate the list. Since 2009, the AFR Rich List and the Forbes Asia list of Australia’s 50 Richest People generally assessed Pratt’s net worth on a similar basis, aggregated with his family. However, in 2015, Forbes reported the wealth of Pratt separate to the net worth of his two sisters, Fiona Geminder and Heloise Waislitz.
In 2016, the Australian Taxation Office revealed that despite more than $2.5 billion in revenue in 2013-14, Pratt Consolidated Holdings had not paid any taxes. In response, Pratt said, “All I can say is that we abide by all the laws, as any good ethical company does.”
