The CEOs of the JSE’s leading technology companies, excluding telecoms, by market capitalisation took home a combined R1.38 billion in compensation during 2025. These five companies have a collective market cap of just over R1 trillion.
This is out of 435 companies listed on the JSE as of July 2025, which have a collective market capitalisation of R21 trillion, according to Wikipedia.
Africa’s largest bourse lists technology companies across several sectors, including IT, software and hardware.
ITWeb looked at the remuneration of CEOs at five JSE-listed tech companies by market capitalisation across all the JSE’s various tech categories.
The figures cited are base salary, short-term incentives and benefits already earned in 2025. They exclude long-term incentives (LTIs), which only vest in the future even though their value is often considered part of total remuneration.
Naspers and Prosus – Fabrício Bloisi – $637 500 (R10.79 million)
Bloisi’s cash salary and short-term incentive in 2025 come on the back of a turnaround at the company based on operating profit, as well as a significant increase in profitability.
While modest compared to performance-based LTIs of $54 million (R914 million) granted but not yet paid out, the value of his longer-term benefits reflects the company’s recovery and growth trajectory.
Bloisi joined Naspers and its international arm, Prosus, in July last year. With its year-end being March, his remuneration is pro ratioed as he has not been there for a full year.
Naspers reported an operating loss, excluding profits from Prosus, in its challenging 2024 financial year, but the company’s operating income returned to profitability in 2025.
In addition, when Prosus’s contribution is included at the bottom line, Naspers’s net profit rose sharply from $2.855 billion (R47.4 billion) in 2024 to $5.242 billion (R88 billion) for the full 2025 year.
Both Peter Takaendesa, chief investment officer at Mergence Investment Managers, and Sean Culverwell, investment analyst at Anchor Capital, see Naspers and Prosus as having driven value on the JSE’s All Share index this year.
Karooooo/Cartrack – Zak Calisto – $75 million (R1.27 billion)
Calisto sold 1.5 million of his Karooooo shares in June 2025 at $50 (R846.60) per share for gross earnings of $75 million (R1.3 billion), although this excludes tax, dividends and other costs.
A reasonable estimate of what Calisto realised in cash from Karooooo in 2025 is around $97.4 million (R1.64 billion) when the gross share sale value and dividends are considered.
Calisto’s earnings are not disclosed publicly in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for its primary listing on the Nasdaq.
Culverwell says financially, Karooooo had a mixed year. Despite this, “Karooooo is the name that could potentially reverse its recent share-price underperformance”.
For this to materialise, the market will need to see improvements in its South African and Asian units, says Culverwell. “This management team has a long history of execution excellence, so we remain confident in their ability to deliver.”
Datatec – Jens Montanana – $4.65 million (R78.7 million)
Montanana earned $4.65 million (R78.7 million) in 2025, which represents base salary, pension, other benefits and short-term incentives already earned. This figure excludes long-term incentives, which are performance-based and vest in the future.
Datatec’s 2025 financial year saw an 8.8% year-on-year drop in revenue to $3.64 billion (R61.46 billion) because of softer demand and currency headwinds, but profit improved.
The company reduced restructuring expenses and benefited from fair‑value gains, a 28% jump in interest income and margin improvement, all of which helped boost net profit to $69.3 million (R1.17 billion).
Culverwell says Datatec has had “an excellent year for CEO Jens Montanana and his team”. Management’s strategic pivot is clearly paying off, he says.
Bytes Technology Group – Sam Mudd – £978 000 (R22.08 million)
Mudd’s compensation of base salary, cash, short-term incentives and benefits for 2025 remuneration reflects stable operations and profitability.
Takaendesa and Culverwell see Bytes Technology Group as a loser on the JSE this year. Culverwell says the sudden resignation of former CEO Neil Murphy – after a large number of undisclosed share trades came to light – sharply dented investor confidence and triggered a material share-price decline.
Bytes Technology Group experienced modest but stable growth under challenging conditions in 2025. The company reported full-year revenue of £217.1 million (R4.9 billion), up 4.9% from 2024, and operating profit of £66.4 million (R1.5 billion), up 17.1% from the prior year.
* All comparative local currency values of the companies’ share prices as of listing are as of this morning’s exchange rate of R22.58 to the pound and R16.93 to the dollar and not as of when CEOs were paid, as this is for indicative purposes only.
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