Company type | Public |
---|---|
JSE: NPN LSE: NPSN | |
Industry | Internet, E-commerce, fintech, food delivery |
Founded | 12 May 1915 |
Founder | W.A. Hofmeyr |
Headquarters | , South Africa |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Koos Bekker (Chair) [1] Fabricio Bloisi(CEO) Phuti Mahanyele-Dabengwa (CEO, South Africa) |
Revenue | US$22.1 billion (FY 2020) [2] [3] |
US$3.7 billion (FY 2020) [4] | |
Total assets | US$36.3 billion (FY 2020) [3] |
Total equity | US$29.93 billion (FY 2020) [3] |
Owner |
|
Subsidiaries | Prosus (56.92%) Media24 Takealot.com Naspers Foundry |
Website | www |
Naspers Limited (until 1998 Die Nasionale Pers) is a South African multinational internet, technology and multimedia holding company headquartered in Cape Town, with interests in online retail, publishing and venture capital investment. Naspers' principal shareholder is its Dutch listed investment subsidiary Prosus, which owns approximately 49% of its parent as part of a cross ownership structure. [5]
Founded in 1915 by attorney William Angus Hofmeyr , Die Nasionale Pers was the largest publishing company in South Africa throughout the 20th century with interests across newspapers, magazines and books. In the 1980s, the company began to diversify, launching a subscription television service and investing in markets outside of South Africa for the first time.
In 2001, Naspers made an early investment in Chinese technology firm Tencent and became increasingly focused on the global consumer internet sector. In 2019, Naspers listed its global internet investment business unit Prosus (including a 31% stake in Tencent) on Euronext Amsterdam.
Naspers currently owns a 56.92% stake in Prosus [5] and wholly owns Media24 (Africa's largest publishing company), Takealot.com (South Africa's largest online retailer) and Naspers Foundry, a South African focused venture capital fund.
In December 1914, [6] : 164 twelve years after the end of the Second Boer War which had devastated most of South Africa and left most Afrikaners impoverished and subject to the British Empire, and during the pro-German Maritz rebellion, a group of sixteen prominent Cape Afrikaners decided at a meeting at District Bank manager Hendrik Bergh's house in Stellenbosch to form a publishing company that would support Afrikaner nationalism in the Union of South Africa. [7] [8] [9] This meeting led to Willie A. Hofmeyr, a well-known Cape lawyer and National Party organizer, founding Die Nasionale Pers Beperkt (National Press Ltd) in 1915 as a publisher of newspapers and magazines. [10] [11] The firm's name was commonly shortened to Naspers (Die Nasionale Pers Beperk), the contraction eventually becoming used even by the company itself.
The launch of Die Nasionale Pers was financed by Jannie Marais, a prominent Stellenbosch farmer who had made a fortune in the Kimberley diamond mines and was the largest shareholder of the District Bank. [7] [9] The press was closely associated with the National Party, [12] founded by General J. B. M. Hertzog in January 1914. [13] It began publishing the Afrikaans-language daily Die Burger (initially De Burger in Dutch) in June 1915, followed by its first magazine, Die Huisgenoot (initially De Huisgenoot), in 1916. [14]
In 1917, Die Nasionale Pers bought the weekly Bloemfontein-based Afrikaan newspaper Het Volksblad (now Volksblad ), the first expansion beyond the Cape Province for the company. [15] : 410 By 1924, the links to the National Party were formalised. [6] : 165 In 1925, Die Volksblad started publishing daily. In 1937, it started Die Oosterlig in the Eastern Cape. [15] : 410 Also in 1937, Die Nasionale Pers set up the company Voortrekkerpers in the Transvaal to support the National Party in Transvaal by publishing Die Transvaler. [15] : 411 Initially the Cape National Party tried to control the extremism of the National Party in the Transvaal by appointing Hendrik Verwoerd as the paper's first editor but he would side with Transvaal branch and Nationale Pers gave up editorial control in 1939. [15] : 411 In order to combat the influence of Albert Hertzog in the Transvaal National Party, Die Nasionale Pers introduced a more enlightened Sunday newspaper in 1965 in the province called the Die Beeld in competition to the Dagbreek. [15] : 411 By 1970, these two papers, the latter owned by Perskor, to merge into a paper called the Rapport managed by both groups. [15] : 411 In 1965, Die Nasionale Pers launched their first English-language magazine Fairlady. In 1974, the Afrikaans newspaper Beeld began publishing daily for the Johannesburg market. [14]
Die Nasionale Pers entered the South African general and educational book publishing markets in 1918, initially publishing exclusively in Afrikaans. The company expanded to English-language titles in 1919 and Xhosa in 1922. It spun off its book publishing operations in 1950 into a separate business, Nasionale Boekhandel. In 1963, Die Nasionale Pers recommenced educational publishing operations through subsidiary Nasou. [14]
In 1973, Die Nasionale Pers took back control of Nasionale Boekhandel, before acquiring another publishing house Human & Rousseau in 1977. The press continued to develop its book publishing business during the 1980s, forming the Afrikaans-language book club Leserskring in 1979 and the English-language book club Leisure Hour. [14] In 1986, Die Nasionale Pers acquired publisher JL van Schaik.
In 1984, Die Nasionale Pers acquired Drum Publications, publisher of the Sunday newspaper City Press and weekly magazines Drum and True Love & Family, titles focused on a black readership. [14]
In 1986, Die Nasionale Pers formed a partnership with other South African publishing companies and launched pay-TV service M-Net. [16] M-Net proved successful and, with sister companies MultiChoice and M-Web, steadily expanded its operations both in South Africa and internationally throughout the 1990s.
In 1994, Die Nasionale Pers became publicly listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in South Africa. [17] The company also obtained a Level I American Depository Receipt listing on the London Stock Exchange.
In 1998, the company formally changed its name to Naspers Limited. [14] Naspers became increasingly focused on digital businesses; launching South African web portal Media24 and online retailer Kalahari.com in 1998 and Chinese-focused web portal SportCN in 2000. In May 2001, Naspers purchased 46.5 percent of Chinese internet company Tencent, owner of WeChat, and an array of fintech apps and mobile games, from early investors including PCCW (the owner of Now TV) and IDG Capital. [18] [19] The investment has been referred to as one of the most successful venture capital deals of all time. [20] Making Naspers the most valuable publicly traded business in Africa by 2017. [21]
In 2003, Naspers took full ownership of subscription television business M-Net and its sister companies MultiChoice and M-Web, integrating their extensive operations across Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. [22] Naspers also launched new publishing ventures in Nigeria and Hungary in 2003. [14]
With the success of the investment in Tencent, Naspers became an investor in a number of consumer internet startups. In January 2007 Naspers purchased a 30% share of Russia's largest internet company VK (company) (formerly Mail.ru Group) for $165 million. [23]
Naspers had a particular focus on India, investing more than $4 billion from 2014 to 2019, [24] across multiple sectors, including into Byju and ibibo. In December 2018, Naspers invested $1 billion into Indian online food ordering and delivery service Swiggy, [25] the largest single investment made, outside of China, into a food tech company. [26]
In 2015, Naspers merged its South African–focused Kalahari.com online retail business with market leader Takealot.com, acquiring a 46% stake in the merged company and creating South Africa's largest online retailer. [27] By 2018, Naspers owned 96% of Takealot.com. [27]
In December 2016, Naspers announced that it had entered into an agreement to sell telecommunications company M-Web to Internet Solutions (a subsidiary of Japanese telecommunications conglomerate Nippon Telegraph and Telephone), pending approval by the South African competition authorities. [28] [29] On 9 May 2017, it was announced that the South African competition authorities approved the proposed sale of M-Web, with 31 May 2017 being the effective commencement date. [30] [31]
In March 2018 Naspers sold part of its stake in Tencent, raising some $10 billion to fund other investments. At the time, its initial investment of $32 million in Tencent was valued at over $175 billion. [32]
Naspers' video entertainment business was spun off as MultiChoice Group, on 27 February 2019, represented as MCG on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. [33] Shares in Multichoice Group were unbundled to Naspers shareholders, with Naspers retaining no stake in the newly listed company. [34]
Still in 2019, Naspers listed its global internet investment business on Euronext Amsterdam as Prosus, [35] [36] which became Europe's largest consumer Internet company on its market debut. Share values gained over 25 percent on the day of its IPO, with Prosus' market capitalisation exceeding 125 billion pounds (US$138 billion). Prosus reported profits of $4.2 billion for its fiscal year ending 31 March 2019.
Naspers Labs, designed in partnership with RLabs and its founder Marlon Parker, [37] launched in 2019 as an economic initiative for unemployed youth in South Africa. [38]
In May 2021, Naspers announced a share swap deal with its Dutch-listed subsidiary Prosus in an attempt to reduce the discount between the asset value of the companies and their market capitalisation. [39] The deal, successfully completed in August 2021, reduced Naspers' stake in Prosus to 56.92% and gave Prosus an approximately 49% share in its parent company. [5]
Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Naspers (through its subsidiary Prosus) wrote off its 27.29% investment, previously valued at US$769 million, in the Russian internet company VK. [40]
Documents collected by OpenSecrets revealed how Die Nasionale Pers funded the National Party (NP) during apartheid, and that the NP also held 74,000 shares in Die Nasionale Pers in 1984.[ citation needed ]
In a letter written to F.W. de Klerk, on 17 August 1989, the then managing director of Die Nasionale Pers, Ton Vosloo, reaffirmed the company's support of the National Party. Vosloo reminded de Klerk of its donation of R150,000 (approximately R1-million today), made to the NP before the 1987 elections. The company had then 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." [41]
In 1997, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission requested that Die Nasionale Pers make a submission about the years between 1960 and 1994 (thus, broadly, between the Sharpeville massacre, in March 1960, and the first democratic elections of April 1994), specifically, the media's role during this period. Die Nasionale Pers refused to comply, which led to 127 employees each making an individual submission to the TRC, apologising for their role in the apartheid years. They said Die Nasionale Pers 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. [42] [43]
In 2015, Media24 CEO Esmare Weideman issued a case-limited apology citing a single employee, Conrad Sidego, who had experienced problems with separate facilities. She did not issue an unqualified apology for Naspers's role in supporting apartheid. [44]
Naspers has two principal business units; Prosus & Naspers South Africa.
Prosus is the largest consumer internet company in Europe, and among the largest technology investors in the world, operating across a variety of platforms and geographies. [45] As part of a share swap deal announced in May 2021, [46] Prosus acquired a 49% stake in its parent company Naspers. [47] Other major holdings of Prosus include:
Prosus is also the largest shareholder of social Internet platforms:
Naspers South Africa operates three media, e-commerce & venture capital businesses in South Africa:
Naspers wholly owns Media24, Africa's largest publisher, printer, and distributor of magazines and related products, as well its largest newspaper publisher.
Naspers wholly owns Takealot.com, South Africa's largest online retailer.
Naspers Foundry is a South Africa-focused early stage venture capital fund that invests in firms that "address big societal needs". Naspers Foundry ceased investment operations in March 2023, though it maintained its existing investments. [52]
Beeld is an Afrikaans-language daily newspaper that was launched on 16 September 1974. Beeld is distributed in four provinces of South Africa: Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West, previously part of the former Transvaal province. Die Beeld was an Afrikaans-language Sunday newspaper in the late 1960s.
The Mail & Guardian, formerly the Weekly Mail, is a South African weekly newspaper and website, published by M&G Media in Johannesburg, South Africa. It focuses on political analysis, investigative reporting, Southern African news, local arts, music and popular culture.
News24 is an English-language South African news website created in October 1998 by the multinational media company, Naspers. Its team of approximately 100 journalists, led by editor-in-chief Adriaan Basson, is based in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Gqeberha. Its brands include Fin24, Sport24, Channel24, Health24, Arts24, Parent24, Wheels24, W24, Ride24 and Business Insider SA. News24 is owned by Media24, a South African media company, with interests in digital media and services, newspapers, magazines, e-commerce, book publishing, print and distribution. In August 2021, News24 launched a digital subscription service that offers premium investigative journalism, opinion, analysis and more to paying subscribers at R75 per month. It reached 100,000 subscribers in February 2024, becoming the largest subscription-led news website in Africa.
Die Burger is a daily Afrikaans-language newspaper, published by Naspers. By 2008, it had a circulation of 91,665 in the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces of South Africa. Along with Beeld and Volksblad, it is one of three broadsheet dailies in the Media24 stable.
Media24 is a South African media company with interests in digital media and services, newspapers, magazines, ecommerce, book publishing, television, logistics and distribution. It is part of a multinational group of media and ecommerce platforms.
City Press is a South African news brand that publishes on multiple platforms. Its flagship print edition is distributed nationally on Sunday, and it has a daily newsletter, online platform, and other social media platforms. These include Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. The newspaper is owned by Media24, which is the media arm of Naspers.
Tencent Holdings Ltd. is a Chinese multinational technology conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the world's largest company in the video game industry based on its equity investments.
Mweb (Pty) Ltd is an Internet Service Provider based in South Africa since 1997.
Internet Solutions (IS) is an Internet services provider for public and private sector organisations. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dimension Data Group and part of NTT.
Delivery Hero SE is a German multinational online food ordering and food delivery company based in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 2011, the company operates in 70+ countries internationally in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin and South America, and the Middle East, and partners with 500,000+ restaurants. Delivery Hero has increasingly branched out beyond food delivery, and is a leading player in the emerging category of quick commerce, which delivers small batch orders in under an hour.
Boervolk Radio presented by the Transvaal Separatists, is an internet-only radio station based in Kempton Park, South Africa.
The Media24 Books Literary Awards are a group of five South African literary prizes awarded annually by Media24, the print-media arm of the South African media company Naspers. They are open to authors whose books are published within the Media24 Books stable, which includes NB Publishers, Jonathan Ball Publishers, LuxVerbi-BM, NVA, and Van Schaik Publishers. Each award is worth R35 000. The awards comprise:
OLX Group is a Dutch-domiciled online market place headquartered in Amsterdam. The OLX consumer brand originated as OnLine eXchange in 2006. OLX Group is owned by Prosus, the international assets division of Naspers.
PayU is a Netherlands-based payment service provider to online merchants. The company was founded in 2002, and is headquartered in Hoofddorp. It allows online businesses to accept and process payments through payment methods that can be integrated with web and mobile applications. As of 2018, the service is available in 17 countries. The firm is owned by the Naspers Group, which also owns a stake in one of its sister companies, Tencent.
Die Transvaler was a South African newspaper founded in 1937 with the aim of promoting Afrikaner nationalism and supporting the Transvaal branch of the National Party. Hendrik Verwoerd was its first editor.
Johannes Henoch Marais was a South African mining magnate, politician and philanthropist who co-founded the multibillion-dollar media conglomerate Naspers and the University of Stellenbosch. He was affectionately known as Jannie in Dutch.
Swiggy is an Indian online food ordering and delivery company. Founded in 2014, Swiggy is headquartered in Bangalore and operates in more than 580 Indian cities, as of July 2023. Besides food delivery, the platform also provides quick commerce services under the name Swiggy Instamart, and same-day package deliveries with Swiggy Genie.
Prosus N.V., or Prosus, is a global investment group that invests and operates across sectors and markets with long-term growth potential. It is among the largest technology investors in the world.
Sanook.com is a Thai-language web portal and news website based in Thailand. It is among the country's most visited websites and one of the longest in operation, having been launched in 1998. The website is operated by Tencent (Thailand) Co., Ltd., previously known as Mweb (Thailand) from 1998 to 2007, and Sanook Online until 2016, when it was renamed to reflect its acquisition by China-based parent Tencent.
iFood is a Brazilian online food ordering and food delivery platform, currently operating in Brazil and previously in Colombia. The company holds over 80% market share of the food delivery sector in Brazil. It is owned by Dutch-based Prosus and its Brazilian investment firm Movile.