Naspers
Encyclopedia
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
-based multinational
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
media company with principal operations in electronic media
Electronic media
Electronic media are media that use electronics or electromechanical energy for the end-user to access the content. This is in contrast to static media , which today are most often created electronically, but don't require electronics to be accessed by the end-user in the printed form...
(including pay-television, internet and instant-messaging subscriber platforms and the provision of related technologies) and print media (including the publishing
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
, distribution
Distribution (business)
Product distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. An organization or set of organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by a consumer or business user.The other three parts of the marketing mix are product, pricing,...
and printing of magazines, newspapers and books, and the provision of private education services).
History
Naspers was founded as Die Nasionale Pers (The National Press) on 12 May 1915. At first it only published a newspaper, Die Burger, but soon expanded and in 1916 published its first magazine Die HuisgenootHuisgenoot
Huisgenoot is a weekly Afrikaans-language general interest family magazine. It has the highest circulation figures of any South African magazine and is followed by sister magazine YOU, its English language version. A third magazine, Drum, is directed at the black market...
. D F Malan, a former minister in the conservative Dutch Reformed Church was persuaded to become editor and was the main supporter of Hertzog's National Party. In 1918 the company took a further step towards expansion when its book publishing operations were founded as Die Burger Boekhandel. Piet Cillié, editor of Die Burger
Die Burger
Die Burger is a daily Afrikaans language newspaper, published by Naspers. By 2008, it had a circulation of 91,665 in the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces of South Africa...
from 1954 until 1985 was a staunch supporter of the National Party, under B J Vorster and P W Botha . Cillie' upheld the apartheid system through many pro-segregation editorials until the very end.
In 1985, Nasionale Pers and a number of other South African media companies formed an electronic pay-television media business, M-Net
M-Net
M-Net is a subscription-funded television channel in South Africa, established in 1986 by Naspers....
, which was listed on the JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) in 1990. In 1993, M-Net was divided into two companies - M-Net itself became a pure pay-television station while the company's subscriber management, signal distribution and cellular telephone activities were formed into a new company called MultiChoice
MultiChoice
MultiChoice is a South African company which operates the DStv satellite television service, the main satellite TV service in Sub-Saharan Africa. It was formed out of the subscriber-management branch of the M-Net terrestrial pay TV company, and broadcasts the full range of M-Net channels on the...
Limited (later renamed MIH Holdings Limited).
Nasionale Pers itself listed on JSE on 12 September 1994 and in 1998 the group's name changed to Naspers.
In 1997, MIH Ltd. created an internet service provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
, M-Web Holdings, which also runs M-Web Blogspace, a popular South African blogging platform.
In September 1999, Naspers purchased a 49% share holding in EvaluNet
EvaluNet
EvaluNet Ltd is a South African-based developer of educational software headquartered in Cape Town. The company was founded in 1995 as Interactive Learning Solutions and changed name to EvaluNet in 1999. In September 1999, Naspers, a multinational JSE-listed media company, purchased a 49% share...
and then in January 2000, merged its existing private education activities with that of another leading South African private education business to form Educor Holdings Limited - one of the leading private education providers in South Africa. During the same year, Naspers also re-organised and branded its print media business as its "Media24" division.
In May 2001, Naspers acquired a 46.5% interest in Tencent Holdings Limited, the operator of an instant messaging
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
platform in China called QQ, which subsequently developed into the leading business of its kind in China. In a quest to further expand its business in China, the company acquired a 9.9% interest in the Beijing Media Corporation (“BMC”) in December 2004. BMC is a media company mainly engaged in the sale of advertising space for the Beijing Youth Daily
Beijing Youth Daily
The Beijing Youth Daily is the official newspaper of the Communist Youth League committee in Beijing. It was established in 1949, and is now published by the Beijing Youth Daily Publishing Company. It is one of Beijing's most widely-circulated newspapers....
as well as the production of newspapers and the trading of print-related materials.
In February 2005, Naspers acquired the South African internet interests of Tiscali
Tiscali
Tiscali may refer to:*Tiscali, an archaeological village of Nuragici people, in Sardinia, Italy, notable because it was completely inside a huge cavern*Tiscali SpA, a telecom company based in Italy*Tiscali TV , multiple uses...
. On 31 March of the same year, Naspers consolidated all its print media, book publishing and private education assets in its Media24 division in order to simplify the group's structure.
In May 2006, Naspers acquired, for US$ 422 million, a 30% interest in the Brazilian media group Editora Abril
Editora Abril
Editora Abril is a major Brazilian publisher and printing company and one of the biggest media holdings in Southern America. The company was founded in 1950 by Victor Civita in São Paulo and is now part of Grupo Abril....
, publishers of dozens of titles, the most important of which being Revista Veja.
In January 2007, Naspers acquired a 30% interest in MXit Lifestyle, the operator of a mobile instant messaging
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
platform in South-Africa called MXit
MXit
MXit is a free instant messaging application developed by MXit Lifestyle Ltd. in South Africa that runs on multiple mobile and computing platforms...
.
Also in January 2007, Naspers acquired a 30% interest in Mail.ru
Mail.ru
Mail.ru is the largest free e-mail service of the Runet. The business was originally owned by Port.ru, a company founded in 1998 by Eugene Goland, Michael Zaitsev and Alexey Krivenkov as spin-off from DataArt. It received an initial investment of USD 1 million from the well-known investor James...
, Russian operator of Mail.ru Agent
Mail.ru Agent
Mail.Ru Agent is a free instant messaging program created by Mail.ru, one of the largest Russian web portals. Besides basic IM functionality , M-Agent also provides online gaming, peer-to-peer voice calls, video calls, low-rate VoIP calls, free SMS, automatic mail checking and...
, an instant messaging
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
service for desktop PCs and mobiles. In November 2007 the company acquired a further 2.6% of Mail.ru .
In October 2007, Naspers acquired Gadu-Gadu, a listed Polish instant messaging business with c.8 million registered accounts (of a population of 38 million).
In March 2008, Naspers acquired Tradus
Tradus
Tradus is an online auction company that operates in Europe. The company, a subsidiary of South African media group Naspers since March 2008, operates across Europe using many different brands...
(formerly QXL and listed on the London Stock Exchange), which provides an online auction platform and internet portals in Eastern Europe. The company owns Allegro.pl, which is the leading online auction site in Poland. At £946 million, this acquisition represents Naspers' largest acquisition to date.
In August 2008, Naspers acquired a 25% stake in BuzzCity through MIH, its investment arm. BuzzCity is a mobile media company providing access to a global advertising network on the mobile internet for brand owners and agencies. The network is made up of publishers worldwide and BuzzCity’s own mobile media properties, including the myGamma social networking platform which is aimed at regions with low fixed-line internet penetration.
In September 2008, Naspers acquired a 49% interest in Compera nTime, mobile value-added services company in Brazil. During 2010 Compera nTime acquired a competitor Yavox. The enlarged group has been renamed Movile. Having Brazil as its core market, Movile is also present in Mexico, and is expanding to other Latin-American countries..
In August 2009, it was announced that Naspers would increase its stake in BuzzCity by MIH purchasing US$1 million of shares from Exploit Technologies, the marketing and commercialisation arm of A*STAR
Agency for Science, Technology and Research
The Agency for Science, Technology and Research is a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore...
.
In September 2009, Naspers acquired a 91% interest in BuscaPé
BuscaPé
Buscapé is a comparison shopping service that operates in Latin America. It was co-founded in São Paulo, Brazil in 1999 by Romero Rodrigues, Rodrigo Borges, Ronaldo Morita and Mario Letelier....
, provider of comparison shopping systems for more than 100 portals and Web sites in Latin America, including Microsoft, Globo and Abril.
In September 2011, Naspers sold its 30% interest in MXit lifestyle to South African investment group World of Avatar.
Business model
Naspers’ most significant operations are located in South Africa, from where it generates approximately 72.7% of its revenues, but other significant operations located elsewhere in Sub-Saharan AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.
The strategy of Naspers is to create media content, build brand names around it, and manage the platforms distributing the content. Naspers then delivers its content in a variety of forms and through a variety of channels, including television, internet services, newspapers, magazines and books.
Naspers is divided into two core segments: electronic media and print media.
The electronic media arm of Naspers is MIH Holdings and controls Naspers' pay-television, internet and related technology activities. MIH Holdings either owns or operates pay-television and internet subscriber platforms in Africa, Greece, Cyprus, Thailand and China and contributed about 65% to Naspers’ total revenue and 80% to its operating profit in the 2007 fiscal year.
The print media arm of Naspers is Media24
Media24
Media24 is the print media arm of the South African media company Naspers. It controls Naspers' newspaper and magazine Southern African publishing as well as printing activities but also includes the internet activities of the 24.com collection of web portals...
, which controls Naspers' newspaper and magazine publishing as well as printing activities but also includes the internet activities of Media24 Digital. Media24 is Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
's largest publisher, printer and distributor of magazines and related products as well as one of its largest newspaper publishers. The print media segment of Naspers contributed about 35% to Naspers’ total revenue and 20% of its operating profit in the 2007 fiscal year.
Publications and services
- Rapport
- BeeldBeeldBeeld is an Afrikaans language daily newspaper that was launched on 16 September 1974. Beeld is distributed in five provinces of South Africa: Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North West and KwaZulu-Natal. Die Beeld was an Afrikaans language Sunday newspaper in the late 1960s...
- City PressCity Press (South Africa)City Press is a Sunday newspaper that is aimed at black readers and is the third biggest selling newspaper in South Africa. City Press is distributed nationally and in neighboring countries including Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland...
- Daily SunDaily SunDaily Sun is the biggest daily newspaper in South Africa. With over 400,000 sales in Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and Northwest provinces, the national expansion of the paper to KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and the Eastern Cape will add to the existing circulation.Daily Sun targets readers in and...
- Die BurgerDie BurgerDie Burger is a daily Afrikaans language newspaper, published by Naspers. By 2008, it had a circulation of 91,665 in the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces of South Africa...
- The Witness
- VolksbladVolksbladThe Volksblad is an Afrikaans language daily newspaper published in Bloemfontein, South Africa, and distributed in the Free State and Northern Cape provinces, where it is the largest Afrikaans daily. It is South Africa's oldest Afrikaans newspaper...
See also
- List of South African media
- AvusaAvusa-History:Avusa is a media company in South Africa, formerly known as Johnnic Communications. Avusa means "to rouse feelings, to revive and evokes action"...
- QXL Auksjon Norge AS