Money no longer motivates N.Z. entrepreneur

Press, 12 January 1987, Page 27

Money no longer motivates N.Z. entrepreneur

The New Zealand businessman, Mr Bruce Judge, may be Australia’s richest resident but he says money is no longer a motivation for him and he is setting up a charitable trust to share some of his wealth.

Mr Judge has astounded the financial community with the pace at which he has expanded his Bris-bane-based international business empire and he has a reputation for being a workaholic. But he still finds time in a busy schedule for philanthropic activity which he sees as an important part of his deep Christian faith.

With Mr Judge owning half of the holding company, Judge Corp, Ltd, which has been valued by the market at sAustBoo (SNZIO24) million, the “Business Review Weekly” magazine says that probably makes him Australia’s wealthiest person. Judge Corp in turn owns 19.9 per cent of Ariadne.

Counting his own

mounting money pile, however, holds no attraction for him.

“Wealth or money is no longer a motivation. I’m setting up a charitable trust to share some of it,” he told the magazine. Mr Judge and Ariadne are already involved in several charitable pursuits in Queensland, including drug education programmes and a children’s hospital. A profile of Mr Judge in “The Australian” newspaper, which named him one of Australia’s top 10 businessmen in 1986, described him as "mildmannered and unassuming” and said he did not fit the popular image of aggressive entrepreneurs.

He said he did not think he was dominated by his business and liked to devote some effort to charitable work. “I’ve been involved in the Anglican church and its social welfare activities which is a good discipline for me. What I don’t have is time, and I think it’s important for

me to give some time for those sort of activities,” he told “The Australian.” “From some of those activities, which we’ve been involved with financially at a corporate level, I received a lot of benefit from my involvement as an individual.

“I have very strong Christian beliefs and I’m certainly not reticent in coming forth and saying it”

While money may no longer be his motivation, Mr Judge is prepared to pay handsomely to reward his senior management — all Ariadne’s executive directors became millionaires last year through a share incentive scheme. “First base is that the shareholders get a fair reward,” he told “Business Review Weekly.” “One of the major reasons for Ariadne’s growth is that we seek out the talented key operating people in the companies we invest in and give them the incentive to perform better. And we do

that with a very lean head office.

“We have about 20 people here overseeing a billion-dollar-a-year company with a capitalisation of nearly sAust9oo million and subsidiaries and associates in five countries — Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, U.S.A, and Britain ... “We reward our senior and key people very well. All the executive directors are now millionaires — and deserve to be so. Because they are making millions each in our share incentive scheme, they get a kick out of performing well. The results are there.”

Mr Judge transformed Ariadne out of the financially troubled Queensland company South Pine Quarries just over four years ago. Last year Ariadne’s pre-tax profit soared 400 per cent to sAustso.s million and Mr Judge now forecasts profits of SAustlOO million “for the foreseeable future on an annual basis.”