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Editor's note: Billionaires.Africa will soon launch AMSI, the Africa $10 Million Shareholdings Index, which will rank and value the disclosed stakes that named individuals hold in companies with a primary listing on an African stock exchange. The index will combine each person's holdings across exchanges, include everyone whose disclosed holdings add up to at least $10 million, and update stock prices and valuations daily. Stock-market net worth reports such as this one, built on disclosed shareholdings and closing prices, are part of the work leading up to the launch. Tips on the beneficial owners of shareholding vehicles on African stock exchanges can be sent to tips@billionaires.africa.
Faan and Dirk van der Walt, the South African brothers who founded used-car retailer WeBuyCars Holdings Ltd., have seen the value of their remaining stake in the company fall to about R689 million ($41.5 million), after the stock lost about 41% of its value this year.
The brothers and their associates own 5.81% of WeBuyCars, or about 24.3 million shares. Most of the holding sits in I VDW Holdings, a company the two men own jointly. WeBuyCars shares closed at R28.39 in Johannesburg on Tuesday, down from R47.83 at the end of 2025. At that year-end price, the shares the brothers still own were worth about R1.16 billion, so their value has fallen by roughly R472 million since January.
A well-timed sale
The brothers sold part of their holding between late January and early February, their first sale since the company listed. They sold 18.7 million shares in off-market trades at an average of R46.27 each and raised R866.4 million, cutting their combined stake from about 10.3%. At Tuesday's price, the same shares would be worth about R532 million, so selling when they did spared the brothers roughly R335 million in losses.
WeBuyCars said at the time that the sale was part of the brothers' estate planning and an effort to diversify their personal wealth, because the stock's rally had left the shares a disproportionately large part of their fortune. It said they had no intention of selling more shares in the near future. "It is a big quantum, but it is the smallest percentage that I've ever disposed of in WeBuyCars," Faan van der Walt, the chief executive officer, said later.
Not every recent trade worked in the brothers' favor. In November 2025, Dirk van der Walt, an executive director, bought 450,000 WeBuyCars shares at an average of R45.46, spending about R20.5 million. Those shares are now worth about R12.8 million.
Cheaper new cars hit demand
The stock's decline reflects a change in South Africa's car market. Cheaper new vehicles from Chinese and Indian brands, often sold with attractive finance deals, have won over buyers who would once have bought used cars. Established carmakers cut prices in response, narrowing the gap that made used cars the better-value choice. WeBuyCars lowered its own prices on vehicles that compete with those models, which hurt its margins.
Cars are also taking longer to sell. Vehicles stayed in stock for an average of 33.2 days in the six months to March, up from 28.9 days a year earlier, while the company's net interest-bearing debt rose 56% to R2.1 billion.
WeBuyCars now has a market value of about R11.9 billion ($716 million), down from about R24.2 billion in July 2025, when the shares peaked near R60. The stock fell as low as R25.16 during trading on Oct. 8, its lowest level in a year, and has since recovered about 13%.
The shares still trade about 51% above R18.75, the price at which they were sold to investors before WeBuyCars listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in April 2024. The listing followed the company's separation from Transaction Capital Ltd., its former controlling shareholder.
From backyard repairs to the JSE
The business has kept growing despite the share-price slump. In the year through September 2025, revenue rose 13% to R26.4 billion, and core headline earnings, the company's preferred profit measure, rose 15% to R937.6 million. WeBuyCars sold 179,006 vehicles in that period through its network of 18 vehicle supermarkets and more than 100 buying pods. Revenue for the six months through March 2026 rose 7.8% to R14.2 billion.
The brothers started the company in 2001 after years of buying, repairing and reselling old cars. Faan had worked as a teacher for about four years, in Pretoria and later in England. Transaction Capital bought 49.9% of WeBuyCars in 2020 for about R1.86 billion in cash and shares, and raised its holding to 74.9% the following year.
The brothers have also been building interests outside the car business. Their holding companies, I Faan Proprietary Ltd. and I Dirk Proprietary Ltd., each own 25.5% of AttBid, with Atterbury Property Fund holding the remaining 49%. AttBid made a cash offer for JSE-listed RMB Holdings Ltd. in February, and after the offer closed in May it held 23.59% of the company. Faan van der Walt has said the funding for that deal was committed months before the brothers sold their WeBuyCars shares.
The two men also draw salaries from WeBuyCars. They earned a combined R28.7 million in the 2025 financial year, with Faan paid R17.3 million and Dirk R11.4 million.
Figures were converted at R16.6 to the dollar.
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