Australian tycoon Andrew Forrest battles it out with oil giant ExxonMobil

Iron ore billionaire turned green warrior Andrew Forrest made billions before committing himself to philanthropy. Now he is preparing for a showdown with ExxonMobil.

Australian businessman Andrew Forrest takes part in a session during the World Economic Forum (WEF)
(Image credit: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

When it comes to stirring up trouble in corporate America, Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest is gaining quite a reputation. Last year, the Australian mining tycoon turned green campaigner doubled down on his long-running war with Meta – suing the social media platform for failing to prevent numerous scams on its platforms. Now he is in the cross hairs of ExxonMobil, which has accused Forrest and others of orchestrating “smear campaigns” for “publicity and personal gain”.

Forrest himself is not a defendant in the defamation case, notes The Guardian. But he is “mentioned by name more than 20 times in the claim”, which targets a Forrest-linked charity – the Intergenerational Environmental Justice Fund (IEJF) – as well as several California-based environmental groups. In a nod to Maga’s preoccupations, Exxon alleges that Forrest harboured “a dream of upending the American oil and gas industry”. Twiggy’s reaction is to bring it on. He claims to be “personally delighted” by the lawsuit if it means that the fossil-fuel behemoth opens itself up to cross-examination in court. Worth around $16 billion, Forrest certainly doesn’t lack the funds to give Exxon a run for its money. Neither is he short of dedication and persistence. When waging war on Meta, he created “a mission-control-style room” staffed around the clock by cybersecurity professionals, says The Wall Street Journal. Doubtless he’ll deploy similar tenacity now.

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Jane writes profiles for MoneyWeek and is city editor of The Week. A former British Society of Magazine Editors editor of the year, she cut her teeth in journalism editing The Daily Telegraph’s Letters page and writing gossip for the London Evening Standard – while contributing to a kaleidoscopic range of business magazines including Personnel Today, Edge, Microscope, Computing, PC Business World, and Business & Finance.

She has edited corporate publications for accountants BDO, business psychologists YSC Consulting, and the law firm Stephenson Harwood – also enjoying a stint as a researcher for the due diligence department of a global risk advisory firm.

Her sole book to date, Stay or Go? (2016), rehearsed the arguments on both sides of the EU referendum.

She lives in north London, has a degree in modern history from Trinity College, Oxford, and is currently learning to play the drums.