Naspers

Naspers Limited
Type	Public
Traded as	JSE: NPN; LSE: NPSN
ISIN	ZAE000015889
Industry	E-commerce, digital media
Genre	Internet
Founded	12 May 1915
Headquarters	Cape Town, South Africa
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Koos Bekker (Chairman); Bob van Dijk (CEO)
Revenue	US19 billion (FY 2019)[1]
Operating income	R1.6 billion (FY 2015)[2]
Subsidiaries	Prosus ; Media24 ; Takealot.com; Multichoice ; M.NET
Website	naspers.com

Naspers Limited is a multinational Internet group which is known for its principal operations in Internet communication, entertainment, gaming and e-commerce. It was founded in 1915, in South Africa, by Jannie Marais of Coetsenburg and W.A. Hofmeyr, with the support of Jan Christiaan Smuts, Louis Botha, and National Party founding president J.B.M. Hertzog.

In 2001, Naspers made an early and successful investment of US$32 million in Chinese social media and gaming company Tencent. As of 2018, Naspers had approximately a 31% stake in Tencent, and is its largest shareholder.[3] Its investment in Tencent also appears to be the main driver of the value of its own stock, and has since overshadowed the operational aspects of the Naspers business. It has also made less notable investments in other technology companies. In December 2018, Naspers invested $1 billion in India's online food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy.[4]

History

De Nasionale Pers Beperkt

Naspers building in the Cape Town central business district

Naspers was founded, in 1915, under the name De Nasionale Pers Beperkt (National Press Ltd) as a publisher and printer of newspapers and magazines.[5][6] A group of prominent Cape Afrikaners decided in December 1914 at a meeting in Stellenbosch to form a publishing company that would support Afrikaner nationalism.[7]^:290 It was founded by W. A. Hofmeyr, a well-known Cape lawyer and National Party organiser. Jannie Marais, a prominent Stellenbosch farmer purchased a quarter of the 20,000 £1 shares in the new company.[7]^:290 Naspers first published the Afrikaans language daily De Burger (later renamed Die Burger) in June 1915 which was followed by its first magazine De Huisgenoot (later Die Huisgenoot) in 1916.[8]

In 1918 the company added book publishing to its portfolio, making it one of Africa's most significant media hubs at the time. In 1985 the company launched the first pay-TV system in the region, M-Net, which marked the company's development from a publisher into a media company.[8] Documents collected by non-profit Open Secrets revealed how Naspers funded the National Party during apartheid and that the National Party also held 74,000 shares in Naspers in 1984.

In a letter written to FW de Klerk on 17 August 1989, then Naspers Managing Director Ton Vosloo reaffirmed the company's support of the NP. Vosloo reminded De Klerk of a donation of R150,000 (approximately R1-million today) made to the NP before the 1987 elections. He also pledged a further R220,000 in support of the NP ahead of South Africa's last race-based general elections in September 1989. Vosloo ended his letter, promising funding to the NP in Transvaal by adding that “our newspaper Beeld in the Transvaal is your ally and we trust that this formidable combination will wipe out the competition”.[9]

In 1997 the Truth and Reconciliation Commission requested that Naspers make a submission about the years between 1960 and 1994 (thus broadly between the Sharpeville tragedy in March 1960 and the first democratic elections in April 1994), and specifically the media's role in this period. Naspers refused to comply, which led to 127 Naspers employees each making an individual submission to the TRC apologising for their role in the apartheid years. They said Naspers newspapers had formed an integral part of the power structure which implemented and maintained apartheid through, for instance, supporting the NP in elections and referendums.[10][11]

It was only in 2015 that Media24 CEO Esmare Weideman apologised for Naspers's role in supporting apartheid.[12]

Public company

Since 1994, the company has been listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in South Africa and has designated to be part of the Top 10 index over the past number of years. They also have a Level I American Depository Receipt programme (ADR programme) listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and trade on an over-the-counter (OTC) basis. International investors account for around 50% of their shareholder base.

Nasionale Pers officially changed its name to the currently used 'Naspers' in 1998.[8]

Naspers Globalization

One example that may illustrate the complexity of global media flows and their effect on media industries in the global South is that of South Africa.[13] Naspers has grown from a South African newspaper group to an emerging global media company which focuses on technology based investments and internet channels. The Global company has gone down many different paths for its revenue over the 20 years, and international business is still dominating today.[14] While the sociopolitical factors play an integral role in consuming media, especially in the global south. In South Africa media consumption is unequal and the digital divide is apparent. This South African conglomerate is an example of how International media is a complex issue that deals with social, economic, and political spectre.[15] It is important when looking at globalization to remember the trends of the media-filled global north that are being followed by the global south.[16] Globalization of media industries should not only be seen in terms of flows and contraflows between countries, but should also show domestic contestations in local media industries but are a result of global processes.

Today the company has a global footprint in the media and internet sectors and continues to expand into other markets. Naspers's initial 34 million dollar investment for a 31% stake in Chinese tech company Tencent in 2001 is now worth a 130 billion.[17] That just marked the beginning for the South African conglomerate as the investments internationally continued. In 2013, Naspers announced its investments in India which totaled over 4 billion that were settled in cash or credited to them. Naspers continued to grow in the global south and made investments in Africa in the 2000s. They are the most dominant media corporation on the African continent as 48 African countries subscribe to the media and internet conglomerate. The footprint doesn't stop there as they sold facebook investments to Russia’s largest email site. The footprint also has made its mark in Europe.[18] In 2019, Naspers had announced the introduction into Europe.(Prosus) Naspers spin-off company in Europe, Prosus hopes to be one of the top twenty tech companies as China and the U.S. hold the throne. Prosus said its market capitalization on its first day of trading is roughly $100 billion.[19] As a global consumer internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world.[20] Prosus is likely to become the largest listed consumer internet company by asset value in Europe.

Tencent investment

Naspers purchased 46.5 percent in Chinese internet company Tencent from early investors including PCCW and IDG Capital,[21] then a start-up, in 2001. The investment paid off for Naspers in dramatic fashion, boosting the Naspers stock price over time,[22] making it the most valuable publicly traded business in Africa by 2017. It sold a part of its stake in March 2018, raising some $10 billion. At that time, its initial investment of $32 million had ballooned to a stake worth over $175 billion.[23] Notably, the market value of its Tencent holdings was greater than the market capitalization of the firm itself. The move has been referred to as one of the most successful venture capital investments of all time.[24]

Other ventures

Myriad International Holdings, a subsidiary of Naspers, owns a 28.7% stake in Digital Sky Technologies (DST), the Russian firm behind investments in Internet companies like Facebook, Groupon, and Zynga. In March 2014, Naspers invested $75 million in Souq.com.[25] Over two rounds in May and September 2017, Naspers invested 1.05 billion euros ($1.2 billion) in Germany's Delivery Hero AG, and was involved in 14 deals worth $1.94 billion in 2017, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.[26] MultiChoice shares were sold in 2019.[1] In January 2019, Naspers acquired Dubizzle, a classifieds website targeting the UAE, for $190 million.

Prosus listing

Announced in March 2019, Naspers is listing its international internet assets on Euronext Amsterdam as Prosus.[27]

Post Anglo Boer War involvement

The original reason for the founding of Naspers was to empower the impoverished Afrikaner nation after the devastation of the Anglo Boer War.[28] It therefore also supported the Nationalist Party (NP).[29]

Criticism

On 26 May 2017, Naspers subsidiary DStv admitted to price fixing and contravening the Competition Act. In a deal struck with the competition commission, the entity agreed to pay R22 million in penalty fees as well as R8 million to the Economic Development Fund. The commission found that the practices restricted competition among the competing companies as they did not independently determine a price.[30]

Brands and subsidiaries

Major brands owned by Naspers include:

Consumer internet companies: Prosus (PayU, ibibo, Multiply, Buscapé, Movile, AutoTraderZA, Property24, SimilarWeb, Avito.ru, OLX, eMAG, Takealot.com, etc.)
Online and print media: Media24 (News24, Die Burger, City Press, You, etc.)

Through Prosus, it also has minority investments in listed social-network platforms:

gollark: Rust

gollark: Rut