Purple Group cuts Mark Barnes’s fee by more than R2m at unusual AGM
At its AGM, Purple Group also approved a R2m capital raising fee for Mark Barnes, despite concerns of minority shareholders
SA Post Office CEO Mark Barnes will be taking R2.3m less than initially proposed from financial services disruptor Purple Group in 2019. This comes after minority shareholders questioned the level of fees he was paid by the company, which owns investment vehicle Easy Equities and trading platform GT247.com. During the company's AGM, Purple revised Barnes’s fee for the 2019 financial year to R500,000, from the R2.86m that was proposed in the integrated annual report published in November, saying it was a mistake. Just over a week ago, some minority shareholders, including shareholder activist Theo Botha, questioned fees paid to Barnes on Twitter. In 2018, Barnes, who owns 20% of Purple, earned R2.7m in fees. This excluded a capital raising fee of R2m for concluding a R100m deal with Sanlam when the insurer bought 30% of Easy Equities. This R2m will be paid to Barnes in 2019. “It sets a bad precedent for SA to have a chairman who will benefit from concluding a deal [and] charge a fee ...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.