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Naspers

Tencent slump hurts Naspers

South Africa-based Naspers has reported a 78 per cent collapse in profits. Naspers has been badly hurt by the much lower contribution from China’s Tencent which is responsible for the bulk of earnings and revenues for Naspers. Naspers, which has its global investment business housed in Amsterdam-listed Prosus, draws over two-thirds of its revenue from […]

June 29, 2023By Chris Forrester

Prosus trims Tencent holding

Cape Town-based multinational Naspers, and its Dutch investment division Prosus, have sold 789,000 shares in China-based Tencent Holdings. Prosus, in a regulatory filing, said it now holds 25.99 per cent of Tencent. Prosus had signalled its intention as far back as mid-year 2022 as part of its plan to fund its own buy-back of shares […]

April 27, 2023By Chris Forrester

SA starts market inquiry into media

South Africa’s Competition Commission is to investigate the country’s digital media and related platforms. The Commission is responding to a complaint made in 2021 by local media giant Naspers and its Media24 operation in which they complained that the likes of Google and other platforms failed to pay for re-use of Media24’s journalism. The Commission’s […]

March 21, 2023By Chris Forrester

Naspers issues profits warning

South African multi-national Naspers, which backs the Netherlands-based Prosus media/broadcasting entities and the Media24 media group, has issued a profits warning, saying that it expects a “major decline” in its half-year position. Naspers warned investors that headline earnings per share for its continuing operations would decline by between 100 per cent and 108 per cent […]

November 23, 2022By Chris Forrester

Naspers decision: Tencent down, Prosus up

Tencent’s share price in Hong Kong fell back 1.5 per cent on June 28th, but Prosus NV stock jumped 10 per cent on the Amsterdam market while shares in Naspers (on the Jo-berg market) rose 13 per cent on the decision by Naspers to buy back its own stock for cancellation. Prosus/Naspers CEO Bob van […]

June 29, 2022

Naspers selling down Tencent stake

South African multinational Naspers, which is Tencent’s largest shareholder, has reversed its previous decision not to sell shares in what is China’s most valuable business. Naspers, which owns a 29 per cent stake in Tencent via the Dutch-based Prosus media business, said on June 27th that it would start selling “small” numbers of ordinary shares […]

June 28, 2022By Chris Forrester

Naspers profits up 11%

South Africa-based technology conglomerate Naspers reported that its first-half profits had risen 11 per cent helped by the company’s major stakes in Chinese internet giant Tencent (in which Naspers indirectly owns a 29 per cent stake). Naspers is Africa’s biggest company by market capitalisation but last year spun off its international businesses to an Amsterdam-based […]

November 24, 2021By Chris Forrester

Chinese internet rules hurt Tencent, Alibaba

China’s State Council has made some substantial interventions on internet businesses, and in particular the education sector. The rules for private education companies including a ban on profits, a ban on raising capital or going public with tutoring at weekends and vacation banned for the sector. The fresh rules have severely impacted China-based internet businesses […]

July 27, 2021

Naspers profits up 24%

South Africa-based conglomerate Naspers has reported a 24 per cent rise in profits for its trading year which ended on March 31st. Naspers earnings per share were $8.14 (compared with $6.56 a year ago). Naspers has a 28.9 per cent stake in Tencent which it holds through its Amsterdam-based subsidiary Prosus which manages Naspers international […]

June 23, 2021By Chris Forrester

Bank: “Canal+ buying into MultiChoice a long-term investment”

Vivendi-backed Canal+ clearly believes Africa is worth a major investment having placed €140 million (Rand 2.8bn) into a 6.5 per cent stake in South Africa’s MultiChoice, which last year was spun off as a stand-alone unit from Naspers. Evidently, Canal+ has been quietly building its shareholding since April this year and has now declared its […]

October 7, 2020By Chris Forrester