Here’s what the WSJ thinks of Naspers – The Wall Street Journal
DUBLIN — Naspers attracted global attention earlier this year when it sold down a chunk of its Tencent stake, building itself a huge, $10 billion war chest. Since then, Naspers has been doing what it promised – making a series of strategic investments in the three businesses it's hanging its future hat on: online classifieds, food delivery, and digital payments. While some have lauded the company's strategy, others have criticised it, saying that they would rather see the cash earned from the successful Tencent bet being returned to shareholders. The question, basically, is whether or not Naspers can make the cash work better for shareholders, with its strategic bets, than they could do for themselves, with their own investments. The jury is obviously still out, as Naspers is in the early days of its new investment push. Whatever happens, shareholders must be eager to see some reward to make up for the discount that the company trades at. – Felicity Duncan
JOHANNESBURG — Naspers Ltd., the little-known South African media outlet that grew into the continent's largest company thanks to a phenomenal bet on Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., is trying to remake itself again with a counterintuitive punt on the future of publishing: classified ads.
The conglomerate kicked off a new chapter in March when it sold down its stake in Tencent to 31.2% from 33.2%, giving it a $9.8 billion war chest. The company's strategy is to bet the cash on some not-so-sexy categories, such as online classifieds, payments and food delivery.
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