Outrage at Naspers CEO’s R1.6bn pay
Punk bands and today’s high-flying corporates have more in common than you might think
In the punk era of the late 1970s the only bands believed to have any chance of success were those that looked awful and sounded worse. The 21st-century investment equivalent of the successful punk band is the hi-tech behemoth that swallows up huge amounts of cash and may or may not make a profit. Amazon’s seeming refusal to demand profits from eye-watering levels of investment did nothing to temper investor sentiment. To the delight of its dividend-deprived shareholders it used its stratospheric rating to secure funding to develop new business opportunities. Twitter made its first quarterly profit in the company’s 12-year history in December last year and is expecting to make its first-ever full-year profit this year. The lack of profit hasn’t dented investor enthusiasm for the shares, which were listed six years ago. Over at Tesla, Elon Musk seems to have a particular disregard for profits. You might think this presents a challenge to remuneration committees; if companies aren’t m...
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