Orbis Holdings Ltd.

Last month, InsideBermuda promised to make further inquiries into the ownership of Bermuda-registered Orbis Investment Management Ltd. after its management had tried to block access to its share register. Readers may recall that, when OIML eventually allowed a member of the public to inspect its register, it showed that the majority shareholder was Orbis Holdings Ltd., with 499,996 of the 500,000 issued shares, with one each held by Geoffrey Gardner, William Gray, Allan Gray and James Dorr.

Many of us have heard variations of the old joke about how many attorneys, doctors, etc. it takes to change a light bulb. InsideBermuda has a new version: How many representatives of Bermuda-based Orbis Investment Management Ltd. does it take before they allow a member of the public to view their share register? Answer: One to take the inquiry, one to refuse it, one to give a ridiculous interpretation of the law, one to field an inquiry from an investigative journalist, one to field an inquiry from a regulator, and one to capitulate.