It’s going to be another awful day for Naspers/Prosus shareholders after Beijing last night swung its anti-corruption cannons on the gaming sector, describing Tencent’s core business as “opium for the mind”. Given the Middle Kingdom’s history involving that drug, the description could hardly be more threatening. China’s State-owned news agency this morning published a story saying the gaming industry was “worth hundreds of billions…….no industry….can develop in a way that destroys a generation.” Tencent shares dropped 10% this morning. The FT’s report is republished – and here’s the link to the WSJ article on the subject.
That makes it perfect timing for a read of Piet Viljoen’s superb assessment of what the Chinese attack on its capitalists means for South Africa’s biggest stocks by market cap. Viljoen presents a rational case for what Naspers/Prosus shareholders should do now – it’s on BizNews this morning.
When entrepreneur-turned-politician Herman Mashaba told me he was launching a law suit against the ANC over July’s riots, it looked opportunistic. Not so much anymore. More than 62 000 have already watched the summary of that interview – and last night the founder of Action SA said more than 200 businesses have signed up as fellow-plaintiffs in the class action suit against Cyril Ramaphosa and his missing-in-action cabinet. High time the ANC brains trust switched its attention from the threat on its left to the one on its right. Keen to join them? Click here, or on the pic above.
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While Ramaphosa’s inaction cost the country dearly during the week of shame, one area where he is on the money is in throwing his support behind vaccinations as the path out of the pandemic. Data from highly vaccinated countries is conclusive: vaccines cannot stop the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19, but they dramatically reduce symptoms and mortalities with 95% of those now hospitalised being unvaccinated. On the other hand, rational minds are arguing for the end of the masks – which science suggests is more of a theatrical placebo than a shield. There’s an excellent commentary this morning in The Wall Street Journal attacking what it describes as the mask distraction.
With the Rand being supported by a commodities price boom, rational South Africans are using this as a window of opportunity to accelerate diversification into offshore assets. Our business partners OrbVest, the SA-managed group which specialises in US medical property investment, will unveils its latest project this week. I’ll be hosting US-based Martin Freeman and local executive director Justin Clarke in a webinar where they’ll discuss the Cincinnati opportunity at noon on Thursday. Sign up here.
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