The Interview - EXCLUSIVE
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MICHAEL MALONE
With Rob Langton
IINET
Australia during which time, he simultaneously pursued his interest in becoming a teacher by completing a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education. As a student of UWA in the late 1980’s / early 1990’s, Michael’s fascination with technology and in particular, early iterations of the internet began to take shape and whilst access was available to students on campus, there were limited options available for residential use due largely to the prohibitive costs associated with the setup and establishment of fixed line services back to the US. Eager to utilise the early text-based services the internet provided (chat forums / basic e-mail), Michael calculated that the costs of a fixed-line service to his parents Padbury garage ($25k per annum + $15k setup cost) could be paid for on the condition that he was able to sign up 200 paying clients on a flat-rate of $25 per month, with the outstanding amount provided by his parents. With this innovative solution in place, Michael founded iiNet Technologies Pty Ltd n 1993, becoming the first ISP in Perth & eventually running more than 350 phone lines as well as 350 modems
Michael Malone, founder of iiNet, is a prolific Western Australian entrepreneur and company director. Under his guidance, iiNet emerged as a remarkable success story within the Australian business landscape, evolving into the nation’s second-largest publicly traded Internet service provider. With a workforce of 2,000 individuals and a customer base of 1 million, iiNet boasted an impressive annual revenue of $1 billion before its acquisition in 2015 in a deal valued at approximately $1.5 billion. Born in County Clare, Ireland in 1969, Michael’s family briefly migrated to Australia in 1974 and lived briefly in Queensland before later returning to Ireland - in 1978, the family permanently migrated back to Australia using the assisted passage scheme and settled in Perth, wherein they established a fencing business run by both parents. Michael attended Christian Brothers College in Leederville (now Aranmore Catholic College), graduating in 1986 before enrolling in a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics) at the University of Western
6 – April / May 2024
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