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Cape Town – Media24 announced on Monday that former Old Mutual Wealth and Investments chief financial officer Mobasheer Patel would be appointed as the company’s new chief financial officer.
He would be stepping into his new role in September 2018.
Patel's 17 years of experience in various senior positions at Old Mutual would stand him in good stead, as he had a "proven track record" in leadership and management, the company said.
The announcement followed the release of Naspers results, which showed core core headline earnings grew by 72% to R33.6bn ($2.5bn) as the company released its financial results for the year ending 31 March 2018. Naspers is the parent company to Media24.
Media24 CEO Esmaré Weideman said: "Given his [Patel's] proven track record, we are confident that Mobasheer will fit in well with our fast-paced business, especially as we continue to explore new areas of growth and development."
On his appointment, Patel, a qualified chartered accountant, said: "I look forward to working closely with the management team over the next few years to unlock new opportunities."
Patel holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, a Bachelor of Commerce Honours from the University of Johannesburg and a higher diploma in auditing from UJ.
He completed his articles at Tuffias Sandberg before joining Old Mutual Corporate Finance before he served as CFO of Old Mutual Wealth and Investment. He eventually took on the role of senior corporate finance manager.
In recent years Naspers has benefited greatly from strong investments in e-commerce businesses around the world, such as China’s Tencent and India’s Flipkart.
The company is also poised to have a dominant e-fashion retailer in South Africa with the news of Spree and Superbalist merging.
During a recent investor day seminar Naspers CEO Bob Van Dijk said the company had a strong appetite to hold on to these investments.
* Fin24 is part of Media24, a subsidiary of Naspers.
