Gina Rinehart, Transforming Bankrupt Company into an Empire

Gina Rinehart, Transforming Bankrupt Company into an Empire

Gina Rinehart, Transforming Bankrupt Company into an Empire

With an estimated net worth of US$14.8 billion as published in the list of Australia's 50 richest people by Forbes, Gina Rinehart is one of Australia's richest people. The Australian mining magnate and heiress is the chairman of Hancock Prospecting, a privately-owned mineral exploration and extraction company founded by her father on 25th November 1955. Being the daughter of late businessman and founder of the company, Lang Hancock, Gina transformed Hancock Prospecting that was in a bad financial position with debt and asset mortgages into a successful brand today.

Born on 9 February 1954 at St John of God Subiaco Hospital in Perth, Western Australia, she is the only child of Hope Margaret Nicholas and Lang Hancock. Having lived with her parents at Nunyerry, 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Wittenoom until the age of four, Rinehart boarded at St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls in Perth. She later, went to the University of Sydney for a brief period to study economics and dropped out and working for her father, gaining an extensive knowledge of the Pilbara iron-ore industry.

As the founder's child, Rinehart inherited a 76.6% share in the company upon his death in 1992 and succeeded him as executive chairman with the rest of the company's shares bring transferred to a trust for her four children. The leader oversaw a rapid expansion of the company over the following decade, and due to the iron ore boom of the early 2000s became a nominal billionaire in 2006. She also began to expand her holdings into areas outside the mining industry in the 2010s by making sizeable investments in Ten Network Holdings and Fairfax Media along with expanding into agriculture, buying several cattle stations.

The chairman of Prospecting Private Limited (HPPL) and the HPPL Group of companies inclusive of privately-owned companies with the notable exception of receiving a royalty stream from Hamersley Iron since the late 1960s. In recent years, Rinehart focused on developing Hancock Prospecting's undeveloped deposits, raising capital through joint venture partnerships and turning the leases into revenue-producing mines.

The self-made billionaire and Australia's richest citizen built her wealth on an industry that continues to expand robustly, the iron ore industry. The leader continues to be embroiled in a lawsuit with two of her children along with Wright Prospecting, owned by her father's original partner. Rinehart has transformed her late father's bankrupted estate as she rebuilt it into something much larger.

The daughter of high profile iron-ore explorer Lang Hancock, Gina's biggest piece of fortune comes from the Roy Hill mining project, which started shipments to Asia in 2015. She is also Australia's third-largest cattle producer, with a portfolio of properties across the country.

Rinehart is a major player in the media business as she expanded from the mining business. She has also acquired a substantial stake in Fairfax Media. In February 2012 she increased her stake in Fairfax to over 12 per cent and became the largest shareholder of the company. She continued to increase her stakes in the company and sold here shareholding in 2015. She has also expanded into a sprawling business across iron ore, coal, mining, and dairy with reported revenue of more than $6 billion in 2018, up sharply year-on-year due to a profitable iron ore division.

In march 1992 as Hancock Prospecting was largely sold out and was in an extremely bad financial position with remaining assets under threat of litigation or heavily mortgaged, Gina refused to be called an heiress and rightfully so as she created an empire on her own. The business leader does not believe in gender quotas and continues to ensure growth and leverage every opportunity.

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