Naspers Boss Earns Close To ZAR 2 Billion

Naspers Group, one of Africa’s biggest companies, has revised its remuneration policy and introduced a claw back clause on short- and long-term incentives for the executive team.

“This year, we introduced clawback provisions on the short-term and long-term incentives for the chief executive and his direct reports. In the 2019 financial year, these clawback provisions were not invoked,” Craig Enenstein, chairperson of the human resources and remuneration committee said.

Mostly used in the finance industry, clawbacks are a contractual provision whereby money already paid to an employee are returned to an employer, often with a penalty.

The Naspers annual report says Van Dijk earned a total payment of almost ZAR 1.9 Bn in salary, incentives, vested share options and share appreciation rights in the financial year that ended on March 2019.

During the same period, he received about ZAR 180 Mn in base pay, pension and incentives. He also vested more than 290000 Naspers N shares with a release value of more than R950m. Van Dijk, also, had more than R750m worth of share-appreciation rights vested in the period.

Group chief financial officer (CFO), Basil Sgourdos on the hand took home a total payment of ZAR 105.4 Mn.

The company made a few changes to its remuneration policy, which also entailed including a minimum shareholding requirement for the CEO of 10 times annual salary.

Van Dijk was impressed with the company’s performance for the year to 31 March 2019. “This year we achieved a landmark in our transformation – listing and unbundling our Video Entertainment business and completing our evolution into a global consumer internet company,” Van Dijk wrote to shareholders.

Naspers revenue for the period under review rose 29 per cent to ZAR 263 Bn. Trading profit grew 22 percent to ZAR 46 Bn, and core headline earnings increased 26 percent to ZAR 42 Bn.

Featured Image Courtesy: Naspers