THE LUCK OF THE IRISH

Naspers has launched a charm offensive to explain to shareholders why its CEO, and other executives, earn as much as they do

Naspers had a horror AGM last year when a fifth of its investors voted against its pay policy. But given the large rewards for CEO Bob van Dijk, will this year be any easier? Aileen O’toole, the Irish-born senior vice-president of Naspers, argues that the technology company “absolutely does” look at the fairness of the total quantum of money it dishes out to its executives.

Take a gander through Naspers’s remuneration report, released last Friday, and you’d have to ask if O’toole is having a craic. This is because Van Dijk, the personable and smart Dutchman who took over from Koos Bekker just three years ago, seems to be making an awful lot of money rapidly.

True, his actual salary and bonuses were only a small part of this, amounting to just $2.39m or R32m. But where Van Dijk really scored was thanks to 284,031 Naspers share options and “share appreciation rights” that vested last year, which alter the complexion of his rewards entirely.

Now, Van Dijk hasn’t actually made this money yet. He still has to pay the “face value” of these options when he chooses to exercise them, which he hasn’t yet. And, as Naspers will bore you to tears repeating, the value of these awards can go up or down until he chooses to exercise them.

Still, the actual value that would theoretically accrue to Van Dijk for these long-term incentives, once you subtract what he has to pay, is R747m – if he were to exercise those rights today. This consists of R505m for the Naspers share options, and $18.1m (R242m) for the share appreciation rights.

In part, this huge reward is also because Naspers’s share price has spiked in the four years since they were first granted to him. It is up 18.5% over the past year alone.

That’s an awful lot of dosh, considering that Naspers’s

You don’t get to compete with the US tech giants unless your remuneration packages are credible and competitive