CEO of Africa’s biggest company sees remuneration slump to $5.9 million in 2023

Bob van Dijk, the CEO of Naspers, Africa’s largest publicly listed company, experienced a significant decline in his remuneration package as the company’s earnings dropped at the end of its 2023 fiscal year.

According to the recently published annual reports, the total remuneration of the Dutch business executive at the end of the group’s 2023 fiscal year plummeted from $15.8 million in 2022 to $5.9 million in 2023.

Van Dijk, who has held the position of CEO since 2014, is renowned as one of the highest-paid executives on the continent. Naspers, a global internet group, currently boasts a market capitalization of more than $36 billion, making it Africa’s largest company in terms of valuation.

Analyzing the breakdown of the remuneration package, Bob van Dijk received a base salary of $1.405 million in 2023, slightly lower than the $1.435 million he earned in the previous year. His short-term incentive awards amounted to $970,000, compared to $897,000 in 2022.

However, the most significant decline in van Dijk’s remuneration package resulted from his long-term incentive awards (LTIs), which dropped to zero in 2023. In the previous year, he received a performance payment of $7.88 million.

The decrease in van Dijk’s total remuneration is attributed to the challenging financial performance of Naspers during its 2023 fiscal year, which concluded on March 31, 2023.

The company’s annual report reveals a sharp decline in profit after tax, plummeting by over 46 percent from $18.54 billion in 2022 to $9.95 billion in 2023.

The decline can be attributed not only to the decrease in gains from the partial disposal of equity-accounted investments, which includes the sale of its stake in Chinese multinational technology conglomerate Tencent, but also to the impact of dilution losses on equity-accounted investments.

Gains from the partial disposal of equity-accounted investments declined from $12.43 billion in 2022 to $7.62 billion in 2023. Concurrently, dilution losses on equity-accounted investments increased from $18.54 billion to $9.95 billion.

The challenging financial performance and decrease in remuneration highlight the impact of Naspers’ earnings decline on its CEO’s compensation. The company’s future outlook and strategies to regain momentum remain crucial for shareholders and stakeholders alike.