In January 2017 the "Huffington Post" reported that Johann Rupert, CEO of Remgro and Richemont, ended an 18-year-old contract with Bell Pottinger due to their 'concerted effort on social and other media to discredit him'. Rupert had spoken out against state capture and called on President Jacob Zuma to resign "for the sake of our children". As the Guptas back Zuma, Rupert asserted that Bell Pottinger painted him as the embodiment of white monopoly capital and as the counterweight to the Guptas and state capture, an example of how state capture allegedly worked under apartheid.