MultiChoice, the now spun-off business that was once part of the Naspers giant conglomerate, wants to reduce its headcount by 2200 workers in South Africa. Naspers, separately, announced that it would postpone a proposed $100 billion European share listing.

MultiChoice owns the DStv and GOtv pan-African digital broadcasting brands says that 2194 job losses would go mostly in its customer service call centres and retail outlets.

The company, in a statement, said: “This has not been an easy decision to make but, in a business driven by advancing technologies, we must continue to drive efficiencies yet be agile enough to adapt to evolving customer needs,” quoting Group CEO Calvo Mawela.

“We must act decisively to align to the change in customer behaviour and competition from over-the-top services,” he added, referring to competition from the likes of Netflix. “If we don’t reposition now, we run the risk of being completely misaligned and we put everyone’s jobs at risk.”

The MultiChoice plan is subject to a consultation process under South Africa’s Labour relations Act.

The Naspers postponement of a planned Euro-listing (on the Amsterdam exchange) was expected to take place on July 17th. But owing to an “administrative error” where incorrect envelopes were mailed to investors which the company said could cause confusion. The listing would now take place in August.

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