Walmart doubles down in SA as veteran CEO leaves

Walmart is strengthening its commitment to its South African unit, even as Chief Executive Officer Mitchell Slape, the Walmart veteran tasked in 2019 to turn around Massmart Holdings prepares to be replaced.

The global retail giant plans to buy all of the shares it doesn’t already own for R62 per share, a 53% premium to the closing price, and delist Massmart from Johannesburg’s main bourse.

Jonathan Molapo, who joined Massmart in January as chief operating officer, will take over as CEO from January. He’s held various leadership positions in South Africa and internationally and was most recently the CEO of Astron Energy Ltd. His most significant retail experience has been developing retail forecourts at gas stations.

Walmart bought a majority stake in Massmart in 2011 for R16.5 billion. Since the end of 2019, Massmart’s share price has dropped 21 percent and it has had to close a number of stores.