COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF
OpenAI CEO says company could become for-profit corporationOpenAI CEO Sam Altman told some shareholders that the company is considering changing its governance structure to a for-profit business that the firm's nonprofit board doesn't control, The Information reported on Friday.
One scenario Altman said the board is considering is a for-profit benefit corporation, which rivals such as Anthropic and xAI are using, the report said, citing a person who heard the comments.
The restructuring discussions are fluid and Altman and his fellow directors could ultimately decide to take a different approach, The Information added.
In response to Reuters' queries about the report, OpenAI said: "We remain focused on building AI that benefits everyone. The nonprofit is core to our mission and will continue to exist."
-THE INFORMATION-
Adidas shares fall on investigation into China corruption allegation
Adidas shares dropped 4% on Monday after the German sportswear brand said it was investigating allegations of corruption in China after receiving an anonymous letter.
"Adidas takes allegations of possible compliance violations very seriously and is clearly committed to complying with legal and internal regulations and ethical standards in all markets where we operate," it said in a statement.
The claims "highlight the challenges many companies face in maintaining consistent oversight and control of their digital operations in the Chinese market," said Jacques Roizen, managing director of China consulting at Digital Luxury Group in Shanghai.
Over the past 18 months Adidas has been working to boost sales in China, after losing significant market share to rivals since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
"This could also jeopardize the goal of finally regaining a foothold in China after the massive slumps of the past four years," said Juergen Molnar at brokerage RoboMarkets.
-REUTERS-
Mr Price says it can still beat Shein's fashion offering
Chinese online players are making serious inroads locally, but Mr Price is holding its own, saying it’s rated the number one retailer among consumers as far as its value offering is concerned, beating both Shein and local rivals.
Speaking during a full-year results presentation on Thursday, CEO Mark Blair said that according to external research by Borderless Access, Mr Price had kept its position as the leader in the "fashion value matrix" in women's and men's wear.
He said Borderless Access conducted its own research, adding this was not Mr Price’s "information". Importantly, Borderless Access obtained the views of a representative sample of SA in the process of collating the information.
"We are very proud of the fact that we are keeping our position on the fashion value matrix ... and everything that we do is focused on ensuring we retain that position."
Blair added the group had also conducted its own internal surveys among its customers, finding that 92% of them said Mr Price offered either the same or better value for money than last year, which was "pleasing".
He also said that the group’s overwhelming focus was on private label goods, adding that what it offered on value was "very difficult to emulate".
-FIN24-
Media24 'continuously reviews operations', won't comment on report about newspaper closures
Media24 has said it does not comment on "rumours or speculation" following a Moneyweb report that the media company had decided to close the print editions of four of its largest newspapers.
Earlier on Thursday, Moneyweb reported that Media24 would close several print publications, including City Press, Rapport, Beeld, and Daily Sun.
The publication said that four unnamed sources at the media group had independently confirmed the closures, which may take place as soon as October.
Trade union Solidarity weighed in to demand "clarity", saying reports of the potential closures were not only "disillusioning for loyal readers", but came as news to the newspapers' own employees.
--FIN24-
Vivo commits to 'biltong clause' as it guzzles up SA's Engen
Amid a major transaction for Vivo Energy to take over Engen in South Africa, a jokingly dubbed "biltong clause" emerged.
That is to say – where products sold at thousands of Vivo-owned petrol stations across the African continent can be sourced in South Africa – they will be.
"We will sell biltong, and of course much more than biltong," Vivo CEO Stan Mittelman told News24 in an exclusive interview during a recent trip to South Africa, where he met with his new Engen colleagues.
"There are a lot of goods produced in SA which can be exported from South Africa and sold in our stations," he said, adding: "As part of its commitments to competition regulators, should Vivo be contacted in writing by South African citizen-owned companies who wish to export relevant products to one or more African countries in which Vivo Energy has a retail service station network, it has promised to make "reasonable efforts to introduce such companies to a reasonable number of the owners of retail service stations" in its network."
For Vivo, the recently closed transaction, which is essentially about acquiring a 74% stake in SA Engen, is hugely significant.
It takes what is an already massive African fuel distribution business and instantly doubles it. As a result, Vivo has now established itself as an undisputed fuel redistribution giant on the continent operating over 4 000 fuel stations under the Shell and/or Engen brands in 28 countries.
The value of the deal has not been disclosed, but market observers valued the company at about $2 billion (about R37 billion). Vivo itself was acquired by global oil trader Vitol for $2.3 billion in 2022.
-FIN24-
MTN Uganda says share offer oversubscribed almost 100%
MTN Uganda's sale of shares left over from its 2021 Initial Public Offering was oversubscribed by almost 100%, the telecom firm said on Thursday.
MTN Uganda is a local unit of South Africa's MTN Group and competes chiefly with the local unit of India's Bharti Airtel.
The company received applications for 3 billion shares against 1.6 billion shares on offer, it said in a statement. The shares sold represent 7.03% of the company's total equity.
The firm's 2021 IPO, in which it sought to sell 20% of its shareholding to expand local ownership to fulfil a regulatory requirement, was deeply undersubscribed.
Last month, MTN announced it was offering the shares left over from that IPO in a new sale on the secondary market at the Uganda Securities Exchange, where it is listed.
The share sale took place between May 27 and June 10. The company did not say how much it raised from the offer. MTN said it would issue an additional statement laying out the details of the offer results around June 20.
MTN has a subscriber base of about 15 million people and also offers mobile money financial services.
-REUTERS-