Atlassian vs Samsung: Founders, CEOs and History
Atlassian was founded in 2002 by Mike Cannon-Brookes, Scott Farquhar and is led by Mike Cannon-Brookes. Samsung was founded in 1969 by Lee Byung-chul and is led by Jun Young-hyun and Roh Tae-moon.
Company facts
Founders
Atlassian
Mike Cannon-Brookes
Atlassian was founded in 2002 in Sydney, Australia, by Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar. The founding of the company is a notable departure from the traditional Silicon Valley startup narrative.
Scott Farquhar
Scott Farquhar co-founded Atlassian in 2002 and served as co-CEO alongside Mike Cannon-Brookes until he stepped down on August 31, 2024, one of the longest co-CEO partnerships among listed technology companies.
Samsung
Lee Byung-chul
Lee Byung-chul founded Samsung Sanghoe in Daegu in 1938, trading dried fish, produce and noodles.
CEOs and their tenures
Atlassian
- Mike Cannon-Brookes2002–present
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Cannon-Brookes has led Atlassian since founding it in 2002, taking it from a $10,000 startup to $6.57 billion of fiscal 2026 revenue, and has been sole chief executive since Scott Farquhar stepped down on August 31, 2024.
Source - Scott Farquhar2002–2024
Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer
Farquhar served as co-CEO alongside Cannon-Brookes from 2002 until August 31, 2024, overseeing technical and engineering areas of the company as it grew from the original Jira issue tracker to a cloud platform serving more than 350,000 customers.
Source
Samsung
- Jong-Hee Han2022–2025
Vice Chairman and CEO
A longtime TV business leader who helped keep Samsung the top global TV brand. He died suddenly in March 2025 while in office.
Source - Jay Y. Lee2022–present
Executive Chairman
Grandson of the founder and son of Lee Kun-hee. He was convicted in the 2017 bribery case and pardoned in 2022, and became Executive Chairman in October 2022. In 2025 the Supreme Court upheld his acquittal in the separate merger and accounting fraud case.
Source - Jun Young-hyun2024–present
Vice Chairman, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Head of Device Solutions
He implemented a complete overhaul of the semiconductor division's engineering processes, issuing a rare public apology in 2024 for the company's technological delays.
Source - Roh Tae-moon (TM Roh)2025–present
Co-Chief Executive Officer, Head of Device eXperience
As head of the MX (Mobile eXperience) division, he heavily integrated AI features (Galaxy AI) into the S-series flagship phones to combat Apple's dominance in the premium tier.
Source
Timeline: Atlassian and Samsung side by side
1938Samsung
Samsung Group begins
Lee Byung-chul founded Samsung as a trading company before later generations expanded the group into electronics and industry.
1969Samsung
Samsung Electronics established
Samsung Electronics Industry Co. Ltd. was established as the group entered electronics manufacturing.
1977Samsung
Korea Semiconductor acquired
Samsung acquired Korea Semiconductor, a key step toward memory and component manufacturing leadership.
1993Samsung
New Management initiative
Lee Kun-hee launched the New Management push to raise quality, design, and global competitiveness.
2002Atlassian
Company founded by Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar in Sydney
Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar founded Atlassian with $10,000 in credit card debt while students at the University of New South Wales. They launched Jira, a bug-tracking and project management tool for software developers.
2004Atlassian
Launch of Confluence team collaboration platform
Atlassian launched Confluence, a team collaboration and documentation platform that complemented Jira and expanded the addressable market beyond software development into general team collaboration and knowledge management.
2005Atlassian
Reaches $1 million in annual revenue with no salespeople
Atlassian reached $1 million in annual revenue entirely through self-service online sales, validating the product-led growth model and demonstrating that enterprise software could be sold without a traditional sales force.
2010Atlassian
Raises $60 million from Accel Partners
Atlassian raised its first outside investment, $60 million from Accel Partners, after eight years of bootstrapped growth. The money went to product development and international expansion, not to building a sales force.
2012Atlassian
Acquisition of HipChat for real-time messaging
Atlassian acquired HipChat, an enterprise messaging platform, entering the real-time communication market and expanding the product suite beyond project management and documentation.
2015Atlassian
Initial public offering on NASDAQ
Atlassian completed its IPO on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, raising $462 million at a valuation of $4.37 billion. Shares were priced at $21 and rose 32% on the first day to close near $28.
2017Atlassian
Acquisition of Trello for $425 million
Atlassian acquired Trello, a visual task management platform built on Kanban boards, for $425 million in cash and stock. The deal extended its reach to non-technical teams and smaller organizations, complementing Jira.
2017Samsung
Harman acquisition closes
Samsung completed the Harman acquisition, expanding into connected car systems and premium audio.
2018Atlassian
Launch of Jira Service Management
Atlassian launched Jira Service Management, entering the IT service management market and extending Jira from software development into IT operations and service desk work.
2020Atlassian
Acquisition of Mindville for asset management
Atlassian acquired Mindville, an IT asset management company, to add asset and configuration management to Jira Service Management for enterprise customers.
2021Atlassian
Acquisition of Chartio for data visualization
Atlassian acquired Chartio, a cloud data visualization and analytics company, to improve reporting across the product suite. The standalone Chartio product was later discontinued.
2022Atlassian
Acquisition of Percept.AI for AI virtual agents
Atlassian acquired Percept.AI, an AI virtual agent company, to add automated ticket handling to Jira Service Management ahead of its broader AI push.
2022Samsung
Jong-Hee Han becomes CEO
Jong-Hee Han became CEO of Samsung Electronics Co. in 2022. A longtime TV business leader who helped keep Samsung the top global TV brand.
2023Atlassian
Acquisition of Loom for approximately $975 million
Atlassian acquired Loom, an asynchronous video messaging platform, for about $975 million, its largest acquisition by announced value, adding recorded video to Jira and Confluence workflows.
2024Atlassian
Launch of Rovo AI assistant
Atlassian launched Rovo, an AI assistant embedded across its products, providing search, summarization, automation, and agents that draw on the Teamwork Graph.
2024Atlassian
Server end-of-life forces cloud and data center migration
Atlassian ended support for its Server product line in February 2024, requiring remaining on-premises customers to move to either Cloud or Data Center subscriptions.
2024Samsung
Jun Young-hyun becomes CEO
Jun Young-hyun became CEO of Samsung Electronics Co. in 2024. Head of the semiconductor (Device Solutions) division and memory business; sole CEO for part of 2025 after Han Jong-hee's death, then co-CEO with TM Roh from November 2025.
2025Atlassian
Launch of Atlassian Collections
Atlassian began selling Collections, bundles of apps and AI agents priced around an outcome rather than per product: the Teamwork Collection, Software Collection, Service Collection, and Strategy Collection.
2025Atlassian
Announces end of life for Data Center products
On September 8, 2025, Atlassian announced the end of life of its Data Center products under a migration program called Atlassian Ascend.
2025Atlassian
Acquisition of The Browser Company of New York
Atlassian completed the acquisition of The Browser Company of New York, maker of the Dia and Arc browsers, on October 20, 2025, for a total purchase price of $488.3 million, taking the company into enterprise browsers.
2025Atlassian
Acquisition of engineering intelligence vendor DX
Atlassian acquired A Software Company, which trades as DX, on November 10, 2025 for $720.4 million in cash. DX measures how engineering investment turns into delivered work and is being folded into Atlassian Collections.
2025Samsung
TM Roh joins Young Hyun Jun as co-CEO
Samsung named TM Roh Head of Device eXperience and CEO, joining Young Hyun Jun as co-CEO.
2025Samsung
Annual revenue reaches ~$237B (KRW 333.6T)
Samsung Electronics reported ~$237 billion (KRW 333.6 trillion) in 2025 annual revenue and ~$31 billion (KRW 43.6 trillion) in operating profit.
2025Samsung
Roh Tae-moon (TM Roh) becomes CEO
Roh Tae-moon (TM Roh) became CEO of Samsung Electronics Co. in 2025. Longtime head of the mobile business.
2026Atlassian
Restructuring eliminates roles covering about 10% of the workforce
Atlassian initiated a second restructuring plan in the third quarter of fiscal 2026, eliminating roles covering approximately 10% of its workforce to fund investment in AI and enterprise sales.
2026Atlassian
Rovo reaches over 80% of the Fortune 500
Atlassian reported that Rovo was in use at over 80% of Fortune 500 companies and that its MCP server and Teamwork Graph CLI passed one million monthly active users in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, more than doubling in a quarter.
Acquisitions
Atlassian
- The Browser Company of New York Inc.2025$488.3M
- A Software Company (DX)2025$720.4M
- Loom, Inc.2023$975M
- Percept.AI2022Undisclosed
- Chartio2021Undisclosed
- Mindville2020Undisclosed
Samsung
- FlaktGroup2025$1.7B
- Xealth2025Undisclosed
- Harman International2017$8B
- SmartThings2014$200M
Questions about Atlassian vs Samsung
Who is the CEO of Atlassian Corporation and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.?
Atlassian Corporation is led by Mike Cannon-Brookes and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is led by Jun Young-hyun and Roh Tae-moon. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.
When was Atlassian Corporation founded vs Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.?
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. was founded in 1969 — 33 years before Atlassian Corporation, which was founded in 2002. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.'s longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger Atlassian Corporation.
How many employees does Atlassian Corporation have compared to Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.?
Atlassian Corporation employs approximately 13,301 people, while Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. employs approximately 259,149. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. has the larger workforce at 259,149 employees, compared to Atlassian Corporation's 13,301. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).
Where are Atlassian Corporation and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. headquartered?
Atlassian Corporation is headquartered in United States and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is headquartered in South Korea. Their different home markets mean they may face different regulatory frameworks, tax regimes, and currency exposure.
Who founded Atlassian Corporation and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.?
Atlassian Corporation was founded by Mike Cannon-Brookes, Scott Farquhar. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. was founded by Lee Byung-chul.
Which company has a longer operating history — Atlassian Corporation or Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.?
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. has been operating for approximately 57 years, making it the more established of the two companies. Atlassian Corporation has been in operation for around 24 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Atlassian vs Samsung overview