In Greek mythology, Icarus ignores his father's warning not to fly too close to the sun as the wax holding the feathers to his wings will melt. The young man plummets into the sea and drowns. Time will tell if anyone on the Steinhoff board cautioned former CEO Markus Jooste about flying too close to the sun. They should have. The market has long been awash with concerns about debt levels and opaque accounting at Steinhoff. Some fund managers avoided investing in what was until recently a market darling. With a R400-billion market value at its peak, Steinhoff was one of the biggest firms on the JSE. After a collapse in its share price this week it's worth 15% of what it was in its heyday. There were plenty of red flags. Legae Securities warned in May it was concerned about leadership and said the company might be vulnerable to "key-man risk" - overdependence on a dominant individual. That fear was realised this week as Jooste resigned amid concerns of fraud. The Steinhoff board is ma...
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