Koos Bekker certainly landed a goldmine when Naspers bought half of Shenzhen, China-based Tencent, now the country’s biggest Internet company, for $32 million.
The stake was diluted to 34 percent after Tencent’s 2004 listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange and the introduction of a share incentive plan, and represents about 80 percent of Naspers value, according to BPI Africa Capital analyst Kate Turner-Smith.
Tencent’s stock has soared 49 percent year-to-date, defying an 11 percent drop in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, and a 1 percent decline in the Hang Seng Index, in the same period. Naspers shares are up 58 percent since January.
Bekker takes his compensation in stock alone, and controls almost four percent of Naspers through a combination of 11.7 million share options he holds directly and a 1.1 percent stake held by a family trust. Measured in local currency, Naspers shares have risen 30-fold since 2003, making it the best- performing stock on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and pushing up the value of Bekker’s personal holdings in the company to $1.2-billion.
Naspers had 50.2 billion rand ($4.9 billion) in revenue in the fiscal year ended 31 March 2013, 60% of which came from pay television. More than 6.7 million households from South Africa to Nigeria paid to watch content on Naspers’ broadcaster, Supersport, including soccer’s English Premier League and Formula 1 car races.
