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South African billionaire Zak Calisto to pocket $22 million in Karooooo dividends

Karooooo’s latest dividend will hand its billionaire founder a pre-tax windfall of more than $22-million.

South African billionaire Zak Calisto to pocket $22 million in Karooooo dividends
Zak Calisto

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South African billionaire Zak Calisto is set to collect a hefty $22.4 million in dividends after his telematics company, Karooooo Ltd., declared an interim payout to shareholders.

Calisto, who founded Karooooo and remains its largest shareholder, holds nearly 58% of the Singapore-headquartered firm’s issued stock. That stake—more than 17.9 million ordinary shares—translates to a pre-tax payday of roughly 401 million rand from the latest dividend.

Karooooo, which trades on both the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE: KRO) and the Nasdaq (NASDAQ: KARO), announced a gross interim dividend of $1.25 per share. Based on the current exchange rate of 17.91 rand to the dollar, shareholders will receive 22.3839 rand per share.

Calisto won’t pocket the full amount, though. With South Africa’s 20% dividend withholding tax applied to local residents, his take-home from the dividend drops to about 320.9 million rand—or just under $18-million.

The dividend, drawn from Karooooo’s profit reserves, will be paid out on Monday, Aug. 18, to shareholders on record as of Aug. 15. The stock will begin trading ex-dividend on Aug. 13 in Johannesburg and Aug. 15 in New York.

Karooooo is best known for its Cartrack platform, which provides cloud-based fleet management and logistics tools to businesses.

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