Business

The top CEO who gave up a R74 million job to leave South Africa

Malcolm Libera

 ·5 Aug 2026

Former MTN Group chief executive Rob Shuter walked away from one of South Africa’s highest-paying executive jobs to take up a job in the United Kingdom (UK) and be closer to family.

After his departure, he was paid R86.54 million as outlined in the company’s remuneration reports.

MTN’s 2020 remuneration report showed that Shuter earned a total remuneration of R73.775 million for the 2020 financial year, up from R58.234 million in 2019.

The increase was largely driven by a significant rise in “other benefits”, which climbed from R1.118 million to R17.807 million.

The company explained that this category included contributions to benefit programmes as well as a cash-settled onboarding incentive that had been approved when Shuter joined MTN in 2017.

The payment compensated him for unvested equity he forfeited when leaving his previous employer and matured in March 2020. His short-term incentive bonus also increased to R30.104 million.

MTN said the bonus reflected strong company and team performance and took into account that Shuter served eight months as active chief executive before spending the remainder of the year on garden leave.

Although MTN’s remuneration committee approved a 0% salary increase for executive directors during the Covid-19 pandemic, Shuter’s basic cash pay still rose slightly due to the structure of his employment contract.

Despite the lucrative remuneration, Shuter chose not to renew his four-year fixed-term contract, deciding instead to relocate to the UK to be closer to his family.

Shuter officially stepped down as Group President and CEO on 31 August 2020, handing over to Ralph Mupita as part of a planned leadership transition.

MTN explained that the arrangement ensured continuity under the termination agreement to support the incoming Group President and CEO. Shuter continued to serve the balance of his contract until 12 March 2021.

Rob Shuter’s Remuneration Breakdown

Shuter’s new job

Following his departure from South Africa, Shuter accepted a senior position with BT Group in the UK. The telecommunications company announced that he would become CEO of BT Enterprise and join its executive committee.

BT Group chief executive Philip Jansen welcomed the appointment. At the time, Jansen said Shuter brings a wealth of international telecoms experience and has a track record of driving innovation in business and consumer markets.

“This makes him ideally suited to drive forward the support we provide to UK businesses and public sector organisations,” Jansen added. Shuter said at the time that he was looking forward to joining BT Enterprise.

His exit from MTN also came with favourable “good leaver” treatment. Rather than forfeiting his long-term share incentives, MTN’s board agreed that his unvested performance share awards would continue to vest on their original dates.

“The Board agreed that R Shuter’s termination be awarded a good leaver status and that the unvested share awards under the PSPs awarded during the fixed period will vest in full,” the board said. 

On 28 December 2021, Shuter’s 2018 performance share allocation of 436,600 shares vested at an exercise price of R198.2141 per share, resulting in a final settlement worth R86.54 million, which was paid in March 2022.

Since leaving BT, Shuter has continued his career in Europe. He lives in Streatley, England, and serves on the boards of Boldyn Networks and Drax Group.

In April 2026, global investment firm KKR appointed him as an Executive Advisor to support its European digital infrastructure investments.

“He brings a rare combination of operational leadership and deep sector expertise across telecoms and fibre networks,” said KKR Co-Head of European Infrastructure Vincent Policard.

Shuter said he was “thrilled” to join KKR, and added that he looked forward to helping expand the firm’s digital infrastructure portfolio across Europe.