Call it history rewritten in the latest Australian Financial Review (née BRW) Rich List (the last from John Stensholt before he shuffles off to The Australian to do something similar). In an entry on the three founders of Flight Centre, a major development from 11 years ago was omitted completely, one so important that it has enabled the three Flight Centre founders to become centimillionaires and members of the Rich List.

“The original three founders of Flight Centre — Graham Skroo Turner, Bill James and Geoff Harris – still hold 40% of the public company’s stock, occupying spots 84, 85 and 86 on this year’s Financial Review Rich List,” the entry begins.

Harris states that, “There’s basically an agreement between the three of us that we don’t want to sell down because we believe strongly in the vision and the future.” That wasn’t the case back in early 2007 when Flight Centre was at the end of a messy buyout bid from local private equity group, Pacific Equity Partners. The founders wanted to take the company private, financed by PEP, offering $17.20 a share, or $1.6 billion in all. Selling out was very much an option back then.

But the founders couldn’t vote their 57% of shares at a key shareholder meeting to approve the buyout, so remaining shareholders stakes were more than double their actual voting power. The key vote was held by fund management firm Lazard, with a 12% stake (the fourth largest in the company). After weeks of lobbying and meetings over the vote at the scheme of arrangement meeting to approve the buyout (it needed approval from 75% of shareholders eligible to vote) Lazard voted against the deal.

And that vote, while criticised at the time, was the making of Flight Centre, and Turner, James and Harris. The company is now valued at more than $6.4 billion (four times the original buyout value) and shares hit an all-time-record high of $63 last Tuesday. Lazard’s no vote ended up making Flight Centre and its founders mega rich. But you wouldn’t have known that from reading the AFR Rich List.