BusinessLive reports that a hefty 50% or more Naspers N shareholders appear to have voted against the media and technology group’s controversial remuneration policy and almost 60% against giving directors control of unissued shares.
The 438m listed N shares control just 32% of the total votes, but the outcome clearly indicated unhappiness with the board’s performance. This degree of opposition by shareholders of a JSE-listed company is said to be unprecedented and raises questions about Naspers’s obligation under JSE rules to engage with shareholders about its remuneration policy. Yet at the AGM on Friday, chairman Koos Bekker terminated questions about remuneration policy after three rounds from shareholder activist Theo Botha and others. Botha said neither Bekker nor the chairwoman of the remuneration committee, Rachel Jafta, had adequately dealt with his concerns about CEO Bob van Dijk’s remuneration package benefiting from the Tencent performance despite not having influence over the Chinese technology group.
- Read this report by Ann Crotty in full at BusinessLive (paywall access)
- Read too, At Naspers AGM, Bekker closes pay talk on pay by saying: 'I've ruled. The end', at Business Times
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