The Mail & Guardian has been acquired by the Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF), which is now the majority shareholder of M&G Media Limited. As part of the same deal, current Chief Executive Officer Hoosain Karjieker becomes a minority shareholder. Trevor Ncube, the former publisher, has left the company. The MDIF is a New York-based non-profit organisation. Since its founding in 1996, it has invested $163-million in over 113 publications across 39 countries.
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Steinhoff Cost Investors Nearly R300 Billion
Concerns around financial irregularities at Steinhoff International have had a material impact on investors on the JSE. It’s not only Steinhoff’s share price that has suffered, but the share prices of a number of related companies as well. The most obvious is its subsidiary Steinhoff Africa Retail (Star). Investors have sold the share down as it appears that Star has guaranteed at least a portion of Steinhoff’s debt. The extent of these guarantees is however unclear. The impact has also spread to Shoprite, of which Steinhoff chairman Christo Wiese owns around 18.0%. Just days before Markus Jooste resigned as Steinhoff CEO, Star had announced that it had exercised call options to acquire a 23.1% economic stake and 50.6% voting control of Shoprite. The deal remains subject to regulatory approval. The Wiese connection appeared to put pressure on Brait, Stellar Capital, Tradehold and Invicta Holdings as well. He is closely associated with all of these companies.
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ANC Vote Buying Scandal Emerges
ANC presidential candidate Lindiwe Sisulu has become the latest high-ranking ANC leader to express her concern about the toxic effect that money could have on the ANC’s elective conference. On Tuesday, the ANC’s chief whip in Parliament, Jackson Mthembu, claimed in several tweets that regional secretaries in some provinces were trying to “allocate fraudulent delegates to branches that have failed to hold BGMs (branch general meetings)”.
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Job Losses Continue In SA
The jobs bloodbath continued in the third quarter, with more than 30,000 jobs lost, Statistics SA data showed on Tuesday. On the same day, manufacturing figures showed the sector performed better than had been expected. Mining production data released last week showed the sector was growing. Formal employment in SA, excluding the agricultural sector, fell by 31,000 jobs in the third quarter of 2017.
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Jooste Accused Of Manipulating Horse Betting
The National Horseracing Authority of Southern Africa (NHA) has given former Steinhoff chief executive Markus Jooste 48 hours to respond to allegations that he is manipulating and controlling the horse industry in South Africa for his personal gain. The NHA said it wanted to give Jooste, who is heavily invested in horse racing in South Africa and abroad, a chance to explain himself. Chief executive Lyndon Barends said the NHA had already made contact with the group that represents Jooste in horse racing to respond to these allegations.
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Disney To Buy Fox For $60 Billion
Walt Disney is close to confirming a deal to buy 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets for about $60bn, reports say. The sale would include the 20th Century Fox film studio and the Sky and Star satellite broadcasters in the UK, Europe and Asia. Disney was left as the front runner after Comcast, the NBC owner, dropped out of the race on Monday.
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Proposal For Meat Taxes
Some investors are betting governments around the world will find a way to start taxing meat production as they aim to improve public health and hit emissions targets set in the Paris Climate Agreement. Socially focused investors are starting to push companies to diversify into plant protein, or even suggest livestock producers use a “shadow price” of meat – similar to an internal carbon price – to estimate future costs. Meat could encounter the same fate as tobacco, carbon and sugar, which are currently taxed in 180, 60, and 25 jurisdictions around the world, respectively, according to a report on Monday from investor group the FAIRR (Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return) Initiative.
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Ethereum And Litecoin Soaring
In the past two days, Ethereum has broken through the $500 and $600 price barriers for the first time, and is up around 30% in the last 24 hours alone, according to Coinbase. Litecoin, meanwhile, is up an astounding 91% from the previous day and is sitting around $365 as of Tuesday afternoon—nearly four times what it was worth a week ago. (Bitcoin, meanwhile, is not far off its record high of around $17,300 but its relative price gains have been modest this week.)
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Possible Meat Taxes On The Cards
Some investors are betting governments around the world will find a way to start taxing meat production as they aim to improve public health and hit emissions targets set in the Paris Climate Agreement. Socially focused investors are starting to push companies to diversify into plant protein, or even suggest livestock producers use a “shadow price” of meat – similar to an internal carbon price – to estimate future costs. Meat could encounter the same fate as tobacco, carbon and sugar, which are currently taxed in 180, 60, and 25 jurisdictions around the world, respectively, according to a report on Monday from investor group the FAIRR (Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return) Initiative.
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SABC Staff Go On Strike
Union Bemawu informed members on Monday that it had given the SABC notice of its intention to strike. The union is demanding a 10% increase, while management is offering 4.5%. The Communication Workers’ Union has also reportedly notified management of plans to strike. Besides salaries, the unions have also taken issue with a reported R3.9-million paid to members of the interim SABC board, given the corporation’s shaky finances.
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