Alec Hogg: New threat to Naspers/Prosus

Shareholders in Naspers/Prosus witnessed a 6% sympathy knock in the price of their shares after Beijing attacked Didi Global, which IPO'd in the US last Wednesday. There is little respite on the horizon for the Tencent-reliant SA-listed stocks. Our partners at The Wall Street Journal report this morning that China will get even tougher on companies with foreign shareholdings. There's also a powerful commentary on the subject from the WSJ's Editorial Board.

Beijing's attacks on Chinese capitalists had been telegraphed for some weeks, starting with the silencing of entrepreneur Jack Ma and pulling the listing of his AliPay. There are similar warnings on cryptocurrencies for those prepared to listen. Regulators worldwide are accelerating their efforts to regulate Bitcoin and other cryptos. Here's the latest.

Additional trustworthy data on the Delta variant of Covid-19 comes from Israel which, like the UK, has a virtually fully vaccinated population. The Israeli health ministry reported yesterday Pfizer's vaccine only protects 64% of those jabbed from contracting the Delta variant (vs 94% for other variants). It is also slightly less effective (94% v 97%) against preventing severe illness.

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