{"id":883026,"date":"2026-11-08T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=883026"},"modified":"2026-11-06T19:48:15","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T17:48:15","slug":"how-much-you-would-have-if-you-invested-r1000-in-patrice-motsepes-golden-child-when-it-was-founded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/883026\/how-much-you-would-have-if-you-invested-r1000-in-patrice-motsepes-golden-child-when-it-was-founded\/","title":{"rendered":"How much you would have if you invested R1,000 in Patrice Motsepes ‘golden child’ when it was founded"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) is one of South Africa’s biggest mining groups, and a R1,000 investment in the company in 2004 could have earned a person more than four times that initial amount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company was officially founded in May 2004 as the result of a merger between ARMGold and Harmony Gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this is officially when ARM started, the company’s founder, Patrice Motsepe, established his first company in the mining industry in 1994, Future Mining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This company laid the foundation for Motsepe to found ARMGold, which was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, this company was merged with Harmony Gold to form ARM, which was listed on the JSE on 30 June 2004.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since its establishment, the company has grown into a major player in South Africa’s mining industry, with a market capitalisation of approximately R31.5 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This success is partly due to the company’s exposure to several commodities, including gold, copper, and Platinum Group Metals (PGMs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company’s success helped propel Motsepe to billionaire status, making him South Africa’s first black dollar billionaire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Motsepe has an estimated net worth of $3.4 billion (R56.2 billion), according to Forbes, making him the 1,201st-richest person in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forbes also noted on its website that Motsepe was the first black African on its billionaires list, joining in 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This wealth was largely created through Motsepe’s stake in ARM, which he led from its foundation until early 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February 2026, he stepped down as the company’s executive chairman while remaining its board chairman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision was due to new simplification rules from the JSE, which would not allow him to serve in both positions at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI look forward to continue contributing to the global competitiveness of ARM in my new capacity as non-executive chairman,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have undertaken my new role as non-executive chairman to ensure compliance with the Listings Requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crown jewel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When it was first listed on the JSE on 30 June 2004, ARM had a share price of 3,750 cents, which has grown considerably in the last 22 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When markets closed on 5 November, the company was trading at 15,158 cents per share, a 304% increase in value since its founding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investing R1,000 in the company at its start in 2004 would have purchased approximately 26.7 shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the 5 November 2026 closing ARM share price of 15,158 cents, this investment would be worth roughly R4,042.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The amount represents a return on investment of over 304%, which could be even higher if a person sold their R1,000 stake at the right time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its 22-year history, the South African mining giant reached its highest share price of 30,523 cents on 13 January 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selling an initial R1,000 investment at this time would yield approximately R8,139: a 714% return on investment in 19 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this is the highest theoretical return a person could make after investing in the company at its founding, selling the R1,000 stake in 2008 would also yield a high return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 23 May 2008, ARM shares traded at 29,700 cents per share, meaning a R1,000 investment in May 2004 would be worth R7,920.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this is a lower return on investment than if a person sold in 2023, it would represent a 692% return on investment in only four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following this high peak in early 2008, ARM’s share price plummeted as global markets struggled through the financial crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

African Rainbow Minerals historic share price<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

African Rainbow Minerals is a major player in the South African mining industry and one of the crown jewels in Patrice Motsepe’s list of accomplishments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":873876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2119400802213151168","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2265578030929262","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17935060671420476","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[3236,175,4136],"class_list":["post-883026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-arm","tag-jse","tag-patrice-motsepe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883026"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":883077,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883026\/revisions\/883077"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}