All I Survé’s losses are mounting
When Iqbal Survé spat the dummy and dismissed Alide Dasnois as editor of the Cape Times in 2013, one reason he gave was that circulation had fallen by 28% in five years. His own performance as executive chairman of Independent Media between 2014 and 2016 suggests the next target of his wrath should be himself.
Losses of R105.6-million in 2014 — the first full year of his loanfunded “ownership” of holding company Sekunjalo Independent Media — ballooned by 200% to R315.6-million in 2016, according to this week’s pre-listing statement for his new ownership vehicle, Sagarmatha Technologies. This is despite him retrenching dozens and cutting the pay of survivors. His own “director’s emolument” went in the other direction, growing from R5.637-million in 2014 to R13.313-million in 2016. It sounds generous, but it won’t go far when the self-styled “struggle doctor-turned-billionaire philanthropist” has to find R908million in August to repay just half of what he owes Chinese investors, the Government Employees Pension Fund and Sactwu for funding his media ambitions.