Naspers Limited (until 1998 Die Nasionale Pers) is a South African
multinational internet
The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
,
technology
Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...
and multimedia
holding company
A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...
headquartered in
Cape Town
Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
.
The company has interests in online retail, publishing,
real estate, and
venture capital
Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...
investment
Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...
. Naspers' principal shareholder is its
Dutch-listed investment subsidiary,
Prosus, which owns approximately 49% of its parent as part of a
cross-ownership structure.
Founded in 1915 by attorney , Die Nasionale Pers was the largest publishing company in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
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
Tencent Holdings Ltd. ( zh, s=腾讯, p=Téngxùn) is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimed ...
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
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.
History
Founding and Afrikaner nationalism
In December 1914,
twelve years after the end of the
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...
which had devastated most of South Africa and left most Afrikaners impoverished and subject to the
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
, and during the pro-
German Maritz rebellion, a group of sixteen prominent
Cape
A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment of any length that hangs loosely and connects either at the neck or shoulders. They usually cover the back, shoulders, and arms. They come in a variety of styles and have been used th ...
Afrikaners
Afrikaners () are a Southern African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch people, Dutch Settler colonialism, settlers who first arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in Free Burghers in the Dutch Cape Colony, 1652.Entry: Cape Colony. '' ...
decided at a meeting at District Bank manager Hendrik Bergh's house in
Stellenbosch
Stellenbosch (; )[A Universal Pronouncing Gazetteer.](_blank)
Thomas Baldwin ...
to form a publishing company that would support
Afrikaner nationalism in the
Union of South Africa
The Union of South Africa (; , ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day South Africa, Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the British Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Tra ...
.
That meeting led to Willie A. Hofmeyr founding Die Nasionale Pers Beperkt (National Press Ltd) in 1915 as a publisher of newspapers and magazines. At the time, Hofmeyr was a well-known Cape lawyer and organizer for the then-Afrikaner nationalist, conservative
National Party, which would later implement the racially segregated system of
apartheid
Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
in South Africa.
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.
The press was closely associated with the National Party, founded by General J. B. M. Hertzog in January 1914. 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.
Domestic expansion (1917–1986)
In 1917, Die Nasionale Pers bought the weekly Bloemfontein
Bloemfontein ( ; ), also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State (province), Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongsi ...
-based Afrikaans newspaper ''Het Volksblad'' (now '' Volksblad''), the first expansion beyond the Cape Province for the company. By 1924, the links to the National Party were formalised. In 1925, ''Die Volksblad'' started publishing daily. In 1937, it started ''Die Oosterlig'' in the Eastern Cape.[
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''.][ 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.][
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''.][ By 1970, these two papers, the latter owned by ''Perskor'', to merge into a paper called the '' Rapport'' managed by both groups.][ 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.]
Die Nasionale Pers entered the South African general and educational book publishing markets in 1918, initially publishing exclusively in Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...
. 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.
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. 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.
Diversification, IPO and international expansion (1986–2003)
In 1986, Die Nasionale Pers formed a partnership with other South African publishing companies and launched pay-TV service M-Net
M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...
. M-Net proved successful and, with sister companies MultiChoice
MultiChoice is a South Africa, South African company that operates DStv, a major satellite television service in Sub-Saharan Africa. The company also operates GOtv Africa, GOtv, a minor satellite TV service operating in 9 countries, and Showmax, ...
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. The company also obtained a Level I American Depository Receipt listing on the London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...
.
In 1998, the company formally changed its name to Naspers Limited. 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
Tencent Holdings Ltd. ( zh, s=腾讯, p=Téngxùn) is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimed ...
, owner of WeChat
WeChat or Weixin in Chinese ( zh, c=微信, p=Wēixìn , l=micro-message) is an instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment mobile app, app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile a ...
, and an array of fintech apps and mobile games, from early investors including PCCW (the owner of Now TV) and IDG Capital. The investment has been referred to as one of the most successful venture capital deals of all time. Making Naspers the most valuable publicly traded business in Africa by 2017.
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. Naspers also launched new publishing ventures in Nigeria and Hungary in 2003.
Online ventures (2003–2015)
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.
Naspers had a particular focus on India, investing more than $4 billion from 2014 to 2019, across multiple sectors, including into Byju and ibibo. In December 2018, Naspers invested $1 billion into Indian online food ordering and delivery service Swiggy, the largest single investment made, outside of China, into a food tech company.
Consolidation (2015–present)
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. By 2018, Naspers owned 96% of Takealot.com.
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
(NTT) is a Japanese telecommunications holding company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Ranked 55th in ''Fortune'' Global 500, NTT is the fourth largest telecommunications company in the world in terms of revenue, as well as the third largest pu ...
), pending approval by the South African competition authorities. 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.
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.
Naspers' video entertainment business was spun off as MultiChoice Group, on 27 February 2019, represented as MCG on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Shares in Multichoice Group were unbundled to Naspers shareholders, with Naspers retaining no stake in the newly listed company.
Still in 2019, Naspers listed its global internet investment business on Euronext Amsterdam as Prosus, 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, launched in 2019 as an economic initiative for unemployed youth in South Africa.
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. 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.
Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
, Naspers (through its subsidiary Prosus) wrote off its 27.29% investment, previously valued at US$769 million, in the Russian internet company VK.
Controversies
Apartheid
Documents collected by OpenSecrets
OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks and publishes data on campaign finance and lobbying, including a revolving door database which documents the individuals who have worked in both the public sector an ...
revealed how Die Nasionale Pers funded the National Party (NP) during apartheid
Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
, and that the NP also held 74,000 shares in Die Nasionale Pers in 1984.
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."
In 1997, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state ac ...
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.
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.
Assets
Naspers has two principal business units; Prosus & Naspers South Africa.
Prosus
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. As part of a share swap deal announced in May 2021, Prosus acquired a 49% stake in its parent company Naspers. Other major holdings of Prosus include:
* E-commerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...
– including OLX (100%)
* Fintech – including PayU (98.8%)
* Food delivery – including iFood (54.8%), Delivery Hero (22.3%) and Swiggy (38.8%)
* Retail – including eMag (80.1%)
* Travel – including its associate, Ctrip (6%)
* Mobility – Bykea
* EdTech – Codecademy, Stack Overflow
In software, a stack overflow occurs if the call stack pointer exceeds the stack bound. The call stack may consist of a limited amount of address space, often determined at the start of the program. The size of the call stack depends on many fa ...
, Brainly, Udemy
Prosus is also the largest shareholder of social Internet platforms:
* Tencent
Tencent Holdings Ltd. ( zh, s=腾讯, p=Téngxùn) is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimed ...
(26.16%)
* VK (27.29%) – this investment was written off in March 2022.
Naspers South Africa
Naspers South Africa operates four media, e-commerce & venture capital businesses in South Africa:
Media24
Naspers wholly owns Media24, Africa's largest publisher, printer, and distributor of magazines and related products, as well its largest newspaper publisher.
Property24
Naspers wholly owns Property24, South Africa's largest online real estate listing website. The site, which receives 2.2 million visitors per month (26.4 million per year) as of May 2025, features both rental and sale listings across South Africa.
Takealot.com
Naspers wholly owns Takealot.com, South Africa's largest online retailer.
Naspers Foundry
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.
See also
* List of South African mass media
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
1915 establishments in South Africa
1994 initial public offerings
Publicly traded companies
Companies based in Cape Town
Companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange
Companies in the FTSE/JSE Top 40 Index
Tencent
South African brands
Book publishing companies of South Africa
Magazine publishing companies of South Africa
Newspaper companies
Mass media in Cape Town
Television in South Africa
Internet technology companies
South African companies established in 1915