Executive incentives: what if the share price drops?
In a weak market, who wants to be an executive who relies on a strong share price to pay for the luxury yacht?
Between December 2017 and last month, the value of the Naspers shares owned by group CEO Bob van Dijk dropped by almost R1bn. In addition, Van Dijk would have watched as around R800m leaked from the value of the Naspers shares that were allocated to him but that he does not yet own. His share appreciation rights were also looking steadily less attractive as the year progressed. Van Dijk’s notional wealth recovered last week when global index firm MSCI decided not to exclude or reduce the weighting of companies that give certain investors higher voting rights than others. Naspers’s dual class structure gives the holders of unlisted A shares control over the company. His fortunes were also helped by the much-awaited rally in Tencent. The combined effect was a 9.7% jump in the Naspers share price within 24 hours, the largest one-day increase in four years. The reversal of the unsettling decline in the Naspers share price must have been a relief for all those shareholders who, before De...
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