One of South Africa’s richest people loses over R3 billion

Karooooo CEO Zak Calisto lost around R3.1 billion on Thursday, 12 June 2025, after an announcement from the company saw its share price plummet by over 15%.

On Thursday, 12 June 2025, Karooooo informed shareholders that Calisto plans to sell 1.5 million of his personal shares in the company for $50 (around R898) a share.

The company explained that this sale, expected to close on Friday, 13 June 2025, will result in gross proceeds of approximately $75.0 million (R1.33 billion). Karooooo will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale.

This sale will be made through underwriters that also have a 30-day option to purchase up to 225,000 additional ordinary shares from the CEO at the public offering price of around R890.

Calisto’s shares are not publicly traded, but they will become public by selling all of them to underwriters, who will give the seller access to the public market.

Calisto is Karooooo’s largest shareholder and will, even after the sale is completed, own 17,917,958 ordinary shares, or a 58.00% stake in the company.

Therefore, on Thursday, 12 June 2025, he owned 19,417,958 Karooooo shares, including the 1.5 million shares he plans to sell.

At market open on Thursday, Karooooo’s share price on the JSE was 103,981 cents, or R1,039.81. Therefore, at the start of the day, the value of Calisto’s shareholding was around R20.19 billion.

However, following the announcement of Calisto’s planned sale, Karooooo’s share price saw a significant decline.

This is likely due to investor concerns about why Calisto would seemingly “cash out” on his investment in the company and whether this sale could signal a belief that the share price will decline.

In addition, the significantly discounted price at which the underwriters bought Calisto’s shares likely put downward pressure on the share price, bringing it closer to that sale price.

Calisto’s substantial shareholding also means a higher supply of shares is available to trade on the market. 

If not met with equally high demand, this higher supply can put significant downward pressure on the share price.

The graph below shows how Karooooo’s share price fell on Thursday, 12 June 2025.

R3.1 billion loss

Karooooo’s share price fell by 15.37% on Thursday, reaching 88,000 cents, or R880, at market close.

Therefore, Calisto’s shareholding in Karooooo started the day at a value of around R20.19 billion, but ended the day at R17.09 billion. This equates to a loss of R3.10 billion.

The sale of Calisto’s shares will help him make up for some of these losses. The sale of his 1.5 million shares is expected to bring in gross proceeds of around R1.33 billion.

In addition, should the underwriters exercise their option to buy an additional 225,000 of Calisto’s shares for $50 (around R898), it could add $11.25 million (R201.97 million) to these proceeds.

Therefore, Calisto could potentially make $86.25 million or R1.55 billion from the sale of his Karooooo shares.

Regardless of his significant loss on Thursday, Calisto is still one of South Africa’s richest men.

Since listing on the JSE and NASDAQ, Karooooo has enjoyed immense success. Its share price has grown by nearly 70% on the JSE since listing.

This has translated into Calisto, as the majority shareholder, becoming one of the wealthiest men in South Africa.

In January 2025, it was estimated that the CEO’s shareholding, and therefore his net wealth, was worth just under R18 billion.

This level of wealth would make him one of only a handful of South Africans to have reached dollar billionaire status, placing him amongst people like Johann Rupert, Patrice Motsepe and Koos Bekker.

On Friday, 13 June 2025, Karooooo’s share price had recovered slightly from its decline on Thursday, and is up around 4% at 10:45.

The table below shows how the value of Calisto’s shareholding in Karooooo declined on Thursday, 12 June 2025.

This article was first published by Daily Investor and is reproduced with permission.