BRUCE WHITFIELD: A sneeze in Beijing could chill Naspers to the bone
Regulators could start making life difficult for the Chinese company, which would quickly reveal whether Pony knows more than just one trick
Your pension may depend on the mood of a Chinese pencil pusher, hardly a comforting thought. The Chinese government has unveiled an investigation into the country's three biggest social media networks, of which WeChat, owned by Tencent, which in turn is 35% Naspers-owned, is one. Due to the extraordinary success of Tencent in China, the value of Naspers has grown disproportionately to the rest of the South African market, and the Chinese government investigation into alleged breaches of its draconian cyber-security laws could go either way. It's one of the reasons investors in Naspers are sceptical about the valuation attached to the Chinese internet giant. Naspers is worth about R1.3-trillion on the JSE. Just its one-third stake in the Chinese company - after stellar earnings growth north of 50% so far this year - was at a massive R1.7-trillion this week. Tencent is the world's biggest video-game publisher and is growing fast. Too fast for some of its critics, who are concerned tha...
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