Ask anyone to name New Zealand’s best-known tech founder and Rod Drury usually comes up within seconds. But the number attached to his name keeps moving: NBR’s 2026 Rich List puts the Xero founder at NZ$1.8 billion, down from NZ$2.1 billion a year earlier. Here’s where that estimate comes from, how the family fortune stacks up, and the questions search engines still can’t answer cleanly.
Estimated Net Worth (2026): NZ$1.8 billion · Previous Year Estimate: NZ$2.1 billion · Primary Wealth Source: Xero (cloud accounting) · NBR Rich List Rank (2026): 8th · Year Founded Xero: 2006
Quick snapshot
- NBR’s 2026 Rich List estimates Rod Drury’s wealth at NZ$1.8 billion (NBR (Rich List publisher)).
- The previous year’s NBR estimate was NZ$2.1 billion (NZ Herald (national reporting)).
- He founded Xero, the cloud accounting company, in 2006 (Noteworthy (NZ wealth profile)).
- Specific accusations behind the 2026 search spikes aren’t detailed in top-tier rich-list coverage. (B2Bnews (governance analysis))
- Drury’s current partner and divorce details aren’t itemized in the 2026 NBR feature. (B2Bnews (governance analysis))
- One governance analysis pegged Drury at NZ$500 million and 22nd place, far lower than NBR’s count (B2Bnews (governance analysis)).
- 2006: Xero founded. (RNZ (public broadcaster))
- 2010: First NBR Rich List appearance (RNZ (public broadcaster)).
- June 2026: NBR’s 40th Rich List edition lands. (RNZ (public broadcaster))
- Watch Xero’s share price: an NBR podcast described the company as worth NZ$30 billion, with Drury “worth a couple of those billions” (NBR Podcasts via Spotify).
- The next full Rich List update will reset the number again. (NBR Podcasts via Spotify)
Six data points, one pattern: Drury’s net worth is a single-asset story, and each source below tracks the same Xero-linked estimate.
| Metric | Value | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Sir Rod Drury | 1News (2026 Rich List explainer) |
| Net worth (2026 NBR estimate) | NZ$1.8 billion | NBR (Rich List publisher) |
| Prior-year NBR estimate | NZ$2.1 billion | NZ Herald (national reporting) |
| Primary wealth source | Xero (cloud accounting) | Noteworthy (NZ wealth profile) |
| NBR Rich List placement (2026) | Top 10 | 1News (2026 Rich List explainer) |
| Earlier NBR-based estimate | NZ$1.3 billion | Stuff (national reporting) |
How rich is Rod Drury?
What is Rod Drury’s net worth in 2026?
- 2026 estimate: NZ$1.8 billion.
- Prior-year estimate: NZ$2.1 billion.
- 2026 placement: top 10.
The NZ$300 million gap isn’t a bank account move; it’s NBR’s annual mark-to-market estimate. Most of the swing tracks Xero’s share price, which makes Drury’s ranking one of the most volatile on the list.
One dominant tech stock built the fortune, and the same concentration makes it one of the most volatile numbers on the list.
The implication: Drury’s wealth is tied to a single stock, and any shift in Xero’s market cap directly moves his ranking.
How did Rod Drury make his money?
One company built the fortune, and one stock price moves it: Xero is the whole story in both directions.
Xero, the cloud accounting company Drury founded, became a subscription software powerhouse. The NBR podcast put a number on it: Xero was worth NZ$30 billion, and Drury was “worth a couple of those billions” according to the Rich List (NBR Podcasts via Spotify).
The implication: Drury’s net worth is less a biography than a stock chart. When Xero runs, the rich list moves with it.
How much is the Drury family worth?
The family question is really a concentration question. When NBR estimates Drury at NZ$1.8 billion, the underlying asset is the same Xero stake that built the family fortune — and the family group is counted within the same top tier as dynastic New Zealand wealth.
What is the source of the Drury family wealth?
- Core asset: the Xero stake.
- Valuation driver: Xero’s share price.
- Public estimate: NBR’s annual mark-to-market.
That simplicity is unusual on a rich list where family fortunes often come from property portfolios, inherited manufacturing or decades of private equity. Drury’s wealth is a software equity story.
What this means: family wealth in NZ’s top tier is less about diversification and more about owning an asset the market can price every day.
Who is the richest family in New Zealand?
The answer depends on the edition, but 2026’s top tier is clear about one thing: family groups dominate the national wealth table.
Who are the top 5 richest families?
- Goodman family
- Todd family
- Talley family
- Sir Rod Drury’s family-linked fortune
1News’s 2026 Rich List explainer puts those names in the same top-10 recap as Sir Peter Jackson and Dame Fran Walsh, Sir Michael Friedlander and Peter Cooper (1News (2026 Rich List explainer)).
Top 10 richest people in New Zealand
- Goodman family
- Todd family
- Sir Peter Jackson and Dame Fran Walsh
- Sir Michael Friedlander
- Sir Rod Drury
- Talley family
- Peter Cooper
That mix of individuals and family groups reflects how NBR’s ranking treats dynastic wealth as a unit.
The pattern: New Zealand’s wealthiest tier is a family business, with tech founders like Drury appearing next to dynasties in the same rankings.
How many children does Rod Drury have?
The honest answer: it’s not a data point in the 2026 top-tier coverage. Public biographies acknowledge he has children, but the financial profiles that track his wealth don’t itemize them.
Who is Rod Drury’s ex-wife?
- Name: not detailed in the 2026 NBR feature.
- Settlement: no public detail in top-tier coverage.
- Search interest: persistently high in People Also Ask.
The absence is the story. For a question this common, New Zealand’s financial press doesn’t offer a definitive, well-sourced answer in the 2026 reporting reviewed here.
Who is Rod Drury’s new partner?
- Relationship status: appears in related-search queries.
- Name and timeline: not itemized in 2026 rich-list coverage.
- Most reliable answer: no verification in the national sources reviewed.
Again, the honest move is to flag the gap rather than guess. If a name is circulating, it isn’t coming from the NBR Rich List or the 2026 national news coverage used in this report.
The trade-off: privacy and public wealth don’t mix well on a rich list — the missing personal details become part of the search story.
What is Rod Drury accused of?
This is the question that separates the net-worth story from the personality story. Google’s related queries around Drury repeatedly pair his wealth with accusations, an ex-wife and a new partner — a signal that public interest goes beyond the balance sheet.
Why do 2026 searches keep raising accusations?
- People Also Ask pairs “Rod Drury” with “accused” and family terms.
- Top-10 results focus on NBR estimates rather than biographical context.
- No standalone profile in the current results consolidates the answers.
The gap is meaningful: readers are looking for context, and the top results are mostly rankings.
What’s missing from top-tier coverage?
Search interest in Drury’s personal controversies outstrips what 2026 rich-list coverage reports, leaving readers to stitch together headlines and official rankings.
The one governance angle with a clear public source is B2Bnews’s 2026 analysis, which argues that “founder worship is a governance risk” in Xero’s boardroom culture (B2Bnews (governance analysis)).
The catch: until someone publishes a definitive account, the accusation queries will keep bouncing off the Rich List.
Three estimates, one pattern: when Xero moves, the public number moves with it.
| Period | NBR estimate (NZD) | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Newcomer entry | First Rich List appearance (RNZ (public broadcaster)). |
| Earlier period (Stuff report) | $1.3 billion | Among NZ’s 14 billionaires; Drury’s wealth fell that year (Stuff (national reporting)). |
| 2026 (current NBR estimate) | $1.8 billion | Marked down from $2.1 billion; top-10 placement (NZ Herald (national reporting)). |
The pattern: Drury’s two-decade arc tracks Xero’s — from startup to international scale-up to maturing stock.
Confirmed vs. unclear
Confirmed facts: 5 · Unclear items: 4 · External sources: 8
Confirmed facts
- NBR’s 2026 estimate: NZ$1.8 billion.
- Prior-year estimate: NZ$2.1 billion.
- Founded Xero in 2006.
- Top-10 placement on the 2026 NBR Rich List.
- First NBR Rich List appearance in 2010.
What’s unclear
- Specific accusations behind 2026 search spikes.
- Current partner’s name and timeline.
- Divorce details.
- One low-confidence industry estimate put Drury at NZ$500 million, far from NBR’s $1.8 billion.
What the coverage says
- NBR ties the valuation swing to Xero’s share-price performance.
- Stuff’s earlier report made Drury the only NZ billionaire whose wealth fell.
- 1News’s recap places family groups at the center of the 2026 list.
“The company Drury co-founded had share price gains in June 2025 that boosted the valuation of his fortune.”
— NBR, 2026 Rich List feature on Sir Rod Drury (NBR (Rich List publisher))
“Only former Xero chief executive Rod Drury had his wealth decrease over the past year.”
— Stuff, on NBR-based billionaire data (Stuff (national reporting))
The through-line in all of this: NBR’s net-worth estimates are public signals, not verified personal balance sheets, and Drury’s number will keep changing as Xero’s market value changes. For New Zealand’s tech founders, the lesson is blunt: build a company the market can price, and your public fortune will be repriced every year whether you sell a share or not.
Frequently asked questions
What was Rod Drury’s peak net worth?
The prior-year estimate in the 2026 data was NZ$2.1 billion, before the list marked it down to NZ$1.8 billion.
Why did Rod Drury’s net worth drop in 2026?
NBR’s estimate is tied to Xero’s market value, so the year-over-year movement reflects share-price changes rather than cash spending by Drury.
How does the Drury family wealth compare to the Mowbray family?
Both names sit in New Zealand’s wealthiest tier, but the 2026 NBR recap we reviewed names the Goodman, Todd and Talley families plus Sir Rod Drury in the top 10, rather than a specific Mowbray ranking.
Who tops the NBR Rich List in 2026?
The top-10 recap from 1News names the Goodman family, the Todd family, Sir Peter Jackson and Dame Fran Walsh, Sir Michael Friedlander, Sir Rod Drury, the Talley family and Peter Cooper.
Does Rod Drury still lead Xero?
The 2026 coverage treats him as Xero’s founder and public face; NBR’s podcast features him discussing his vision for New Zealand, rather than his day-to-day CEO role.
What is the clearest signal in Rod Drury’s net worth data?
Concentration. One asset — Xero — drives the estimate up and down, which makes Drury’s public fortune one of the most volatile on the list.