Author: Gugu Lourie
EOH, troubled JSE-listed technology group, has paid its CEO more than R19 million in 2019. The company disclosed in its annual report that Stephen van Coller, having been bought out of an existing contract joined with a guaranteed payment of R10 million, paid in two equal tranches in October 2018, and October 2019. Van Coller was also awarded 1 million share options on joining EOH. His total package include a basic salary of R5.4 million ( which includes medical aid, death and disability insurance, unemployment insurance fund (‘UIF’) and any amounts paid on resignation). It also consists of R14 million…
Takeaway announced on Wednesday that its bid offer for Britain’s Just Eat presented a compelling opportunity for both companies. The Takeaway’s offer is backed by Just Eat’s boards despite a higher bid price from cash-flush larger rival Prosus, which is owned by South African-based tech giant Naspers. Prosus hit back on Wednesday saying that “the Takeaway materials published today continue to underestimate the level of investment required in a sector that is changing rapidly. “Just Eat requires substantial investment in technology, product, marketing and own-delivery to capture its long-term opportunity,” Prosus said in a statement, emailed to TechFinancials. “With our global experience,…
A Cape Town blockchain-based startup, Registree, has partnered with the University of Cape Town (UCT to create blockchain-based records for thousands of UCT students. Over the past two years, a group of the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) students and their professor quietly built Registree, a blockchain-based student registry to address one of the country’s most pressing problems: the coexistence one of the world’s highest youth unemployment rate with a massive and persistent skills shortage across all sectors of the economy. “We started Registree because we realized that universities struggle to fully use of the vast amount of student data,…
Bank Zero, a start-up by mostly former First National Bank (FNB) staffers chaired by venture capitalist Michael Jordaan, on Wednesday reassured the market that is making progress to launch in 2020. The digital bank was initially planned to launch three months ago. Today, the bank – which is set to compete with fellow newcomers TymeBank and Discovery Bank – revealed on Wednesday a debit card beta. To protect customers from widespread card fraud, Bank Zero said it has designed a new patented card which offers vital security and convenience. This patent will dramatically minimise the negative impact of card data…
Nokia today announced that Spectranet, Nigeria’s largest Internet Service Provider, will bring high-speed access to customers in Lagos and Abuja. Spectranet will deploy Nokia’s GPON solution as part of an extensive Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) rollout. The solution will enable Spectranet to provide new ultra-broadband services such as 4K HD video streaming and online gaming to residential and enterprise subscribers in the region. “In today’s digital economy, our customers increasingly seek high-speed internet access to use applications like streaming ultra HD videos and online gaming,” Ajay Awasthi, Chief Executive Officer at Spectranet, said. “With Nokia’s GPON solution, we will be able to…
South African mobile operator MTN, together with Huawei launched their C-band 5G trial on the first day of AfricaCom 2019, as part of the operator’s network evolution plan towards 5G. C-band, the so-called ‘golden band’ for 5G spectrum, is a valuable slice of spectrum and comprises of a frequency range of around 3.3 – 3.8GHz. Many countries around the world are deploying this spectrum band to deliver their 5G services, making it highly valuable for mobile operators. MTN and Huawei signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a Joint 5G Innovation Program to assess and work on new technologies such…
MultiChoice continues to experience strong subscriber growth for the period ended 30 September 2019 despite concerns from experts that this growth would taper off as competition intensifies. Africa’s biggest pay-TV operator, which is valued close to R60 billion on the JSE, informed investors on Monday that it added 1.2 million 90-day active subscribers, representing 7% year-on-year (YoY) growth. This growth pushed MultiChoices’ overall 90-day active subscriber base to 18.9 million households as at 30 September 2019. The group said it’s home market of South Africa delivered solid results, reporting subscriber growth of 7% YoY or 600 000 subscribers on a 90-day…
OLX Group (OLX), a Prosus’ classifieds business, is investing $400 million (R5.9 billion) in online car marketplace Frontier Car Group (FCG). The transaction will result in OLX becoming the largest shareholder in FCG. FCG is a Berlin-based automotive marketplace group founded in 2016. It develops, launches, and operates online and offline used-car marketplaces within high-growth market economies, with operations in over 10 countries and 5 continents. In these marketplaces, FCG enables buyers and sellers of cars to transact in trustworthy and transparent ways through technology, infrastructure, access to capital, and innovative business models compared to otherwise complex systems. OLX, the fastest-growing…
Tech giant Prosus has threated Just East investors that it will withdraw its takeover bid if they back a merger with Takeaway.com. The Telegraph reported that despite being armed with a €20bn (£17bn) warchest, Prosus’ boss Bob van Dijk is telling Just Eat shareholders that Prosus is not interested in buying both companies. Just Eat has rejected a £5bn hostile swoop by Prosus, the Dutch arm of South Africa internet titan Naspers. Its board is instead recommending investors support a planned merger with Takeaway.com that was announced this summer. The Euronext and JSE-listed tech giant owned by Naspers has made a…
Telecommunications network provider MTN’s Zakhele-Futhi’s empowerment scheme will list on the JSE on November 25, the Johannesburg-based telco said on Monday. MTN’s previous scheme, MTN Zakhele, listed on the JSE in 2015, but delisted in the next year as the scheme was wound up. Recently, MTN’s Zakhele-Futhi’s scheme was found to be inconsistent with South Africa’s Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Act. In July, the BBBEE Commission disclosed that the scheme, which was announced by MTN on 12 September 2016, is inconsistent with the act that provides a legislative framework for the promotion of BBBEE. “The Commission found that the…