Behind the giddying swings in Naspers
On Monday and Tuesday, Naspers and Prosus lost more than R430bn in value, hurting the vast majority of SA pension funds. On Wednesday, both stocks came roaring back, gaining 20% on the day. These wild swings would be tough to stomach at the best of times. But these are not the best of times for Naspers; it’s fighting fires on every front. And it’s not just China and Russia — the hefty gamble on food delivery is also causing sleepless nights
If you’re one of the millions of South Africans whose pensions were battered on Monday and Tuesday by the bloodletting in the shares of Naspers (-16.7%) and Prosus (-16.8%), you’ll be pleased to know this brought at least some good news with the bad.
On the face of it, the numbers are terrifying. On Monday and Tuesday, the value that vanished from Naspers and Prosus — partly due to threats of a new Chinese crackdown on technology companies, and partly because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where Naspers holds a stake in the social media site VK and owns classified ads business Avito — amounted to R432bn...
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