Chris Ellison’s net worth shredded by more than $1 billion following MinRes share price rout this week

The Mineral Resources share price car crash continued on Friday, taking the paper losses of its maverick founder Chris Ellison past $1 billion in the space of four months.

MinRes’ stock lost another 4.8 per cent on Friday, completing a 39 per cent drop over the past month and a 61 per cent descent since mid-May.

The share price has shed a third of its value after the diversified mining and contracting major handed down its 2024 financial results last week.

Mr Ellison owns about 11.4 per cent of MinRes, meaning his stake has been depleted by $1.1b since May 20.

MinRes has been badly stung by a triple whammy of plunging lithium prices, weakening iron ore sentiment, and the company having to take on a huge amount of debt to complete its Onslow Iron project in the Pilbara.

MinRes’ cash pile was reduced by $471m to $900m over the year to June 30, while net debt has ballooned from $1.9b to $4.4b.

The FY2024 results revealed a 79 per cent profit slump and the company scrapped its final dividend to preserve cash.

The same time last year MinRes declared a 70¢ dividend, which saw Mr Ellison net a $15.7m cash windfall.

The short sellers are also circling and trying to induce a further share price retreat. MinRes’ shorting interest has more than doubled over the past year to 7.7 per cent.

But WA lithium peer Pilbara Minerals remains the most shorted stock on the ASX with more than 20 per cent of its shares in the hands of detractors, and the country’s newest lithium miner — Liontown Resources — holds fourth place with 10.8 per cent.

Mr Ellison had an estimated net worth of $US1.6b ($2.4b) in 2023, according to Forbes, but this had slipped to $1.05b ($1.6b) by February this year.

Beyond his MinRes shareholding Mr Ellison has an extensive property portfolio, including a mega mansion in Mosman Park that he paid an Australian record price for — $57.5 million — in 2009.

He then splashed out and paid almost $12m for two neighbouring properties in 2014 to make the sprawling compound even bigger.

A multi-million dollar holiday house in Eagle Bay is also part of the Kiwi native’s portfolio.