Naspers chairman Koos Bekker countered criticism that Naspers relies too heavily on its $132bn stake in Chinese media company Tencent Holdings by reminding investors that they would have been a lot poorer if he’d given in to similar pressure to sell the holding years ago. "Five years ago there was also a lot of unhappiness," Bekker told shareholders at the annual meeting in Cape Town on Friday. "If we had sold then, you would have got HK$45, now you get HK$325. "We are not married to the share, but at this point in time it’s paying shareholders." Africa’s biggest internet company has ridden the coattails of the WeChat creator to be the best performer on the JSE’s top 40 index this year with a 50% rise. The catch is that the market values the 33% stake in Tencent at almost $32bn more than Naspers as a whole, suggesting investors don’t see value in the Cape Town-based company’s many other businesses. Naspers has for years scoured the world looking for another early-stage technology co...
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