Naspers CEO Koos Bekker will spend the next year searching the world for Naspers' next big investment in the ICT space, with a focus on developing technologies that are attractive to the group and adjacent to its current skills.
In the meantime, the media giant - the largest media group outside of the US and China, with a market capitalisation of R523 billion - will focus on e-commerce while Bekker takes a year's break before returning as chairman. Bekker believes the e-commerce sector still has a few years to run, although the hype is attracting what he calls "dumb" money, because cash is being thrown at it, which is inflating asking prices.
The group announced on Saturday that Bekker will be succeeded by Bob van Dijk, currently Naspers' most senior e-commerce chief. Bekker will take a year's sabbatical and will "travel widely and research where the group's next spurt of growth may come from, once e-commerce has reached maturity," the listed company says.
In Bekker's 17 years with the company, it has expanded into pay-television, cellular services, the Internet and e-commerce. He will return to the group next April after his travels, taking over from chairman Ton Vosloo, and giving Van Dijk a year to settle into his role.
"In view of our strong development focus on e-commerce, the board believes Bob has the skills to lead us into the next phase of our growth," says Vosloo.
Van Dijk takes over on 1 April.
Strategic focus
Bekker says he is focusing on finding what Naspers should invest in after e-commerce - its current growth spurt - has run its course. E-commerce is Naspers' third-largest ICT unit after its Internet operations and pay-television.
In the six months to September, it almost doubled revenue to R7.9 billion, although it reported a R1.8 billion trading loss. Its classifieds business saw a twofold increase in page views, and its e-tailing segment improved its top line, it noted.
Bekker says Naspers is likely to invest less in e-commerce going forward and focus on managing what the company has. It is streamlining its assets into Amazon-type services, such as Kalahari, and classifieds, he explains.
Naspers subsidiary MIH Internet Africa is restructuring its operations to focus specifically on the general e-tail businesses such as Kalahari, which it plans to grow aggressively over the next year, says Meloy Horn, spokesman for the group.
The restructuring will allow more resources to be dedicated to core operations. Locally, the group is considering closing some non-core brands such as Style36 and 5 Rooms, and is consulting with staff, Horn says. Bekker adds these may be rolled into other services, or shut down.
Bekker says the second large focus for e-commerce is in classifieds, such as its OLX offering, which it has wholly-owned since 2011. He adds that, for Naspers' next venture, the group will look in ICT, which is where its skills lie, and seek something in which it has skills, or can learn.
Globe-trotting
Bekker says his time with Naspers has been "fun". "I couldn't have wished for a more interesting life.
"Now I hope to travel to places like Seoul and San Francisco where the future is being manufactured, and see if there are new technologies we should be trying out. Plus experience a few oddball spots. When Ton steps down, I'll re-join the board, hopefully with fresh ideas."
There are a couple of interesting places Bekker will be looking into, he says. He notes Korea is interesting at the moment in terms of online games and cellular technology, while he also wants to visit Silicon Valley "for its charms".
Bekker adds New York, which was an Internet wasteland when he was studying there in the 1980s, is "coming alive" in terms of social-facing services such as news. He is also keen to visit Berlin, which is developing as the hub of the Internet in Europe thanks to its young culture.
India is another country Bekker wants to tap, because of its ambitious young people and engineering skills.
Bekker says he will keep an open mind and travel to interesting places to meet interesting people to determine if there is anything for Naspers to invest in. The listed company currently has R16 billion in the bank.
Lucky business
Naspers says Bekker participated in four technology "spurts" with the group: pay-television, MTN, Internet and e-commerce.
Bekker joined forces with Cape Town-based Naspers in 1985. Naspers was started in May 1915 as a printer and publisher of newspapers and magazines, and has since expanded into Internet, e-commerce and instant messaging services across the globe.
Bekker says he has enjoyed his time with the company, adding he had a great deal of luck along the way and benefited from technological advances that paved the way for new ventures.
Its 1985 foray, along with several other South African media companies, into M-Net, was as a consequence of a paper Bekker wrote at Columbia University. This was the first move into pay-television in SA and has since morphed into MultiChoice, SA's largest such offering with services in 48 countries in Africa with seven million subscribers.
Bekker says he went to Columbia with "ignorance and no plan" and accidentally stumbled onto the pay-television concept. Its launch of MTN - now a separate company worth R371 billion - came after a staff member returned from the US with a device that allowed people to make calls while in the car, he notes.
In 1991, the MultiChoice team under Bekker, together with partners, launched MTN, now Africa's largest mobile company. In 1997, Bekker replaced Vosloo as CEO and the group ventured into the Internet. After stumbling a few times, this is now Naspers' biggest business segment.
The past 17 years have also seen the creation of MWeb; an investment in Tencent, which operates an instant messaging platform in China; an expansion into Brazil; and then Russia through a stake in mail.ru, as well as investments in Eastern Europe. Its e-commerce stage started in 2008 when the group bough Polish entity Allegro.
Bekker says many of these moves have been accidental, lucky breaks, and whether Naspers will get another remains to be seen. He says the group has had failures, and will no doubt have some more.
Good timing
Vestact analyst Sasha Naryshkine says Bekker's resignation, after an uninterrupted 17 years at the helm of Naspers, comes at the right time. "The appointment of Bob van Dijk, who is currently head of e-commerce, tells you the direction that Naspers is heading in."
Van Dijk speaks five languages, and is formally the head of eBay Germany ? the second-biggest market for that company outside of the US, notes Naryshkine. He has an MSc Econometrics from Erasmus University Rotterdam (cum laude), and an MBA from Insead, in France.
Naryshkine points out Bekker has made remarks about satellite TV being a business in decline - despite continuing to add subscribers - and saying e-commerce was going to be the next big thing.
Bekker will travel widely and research where the group's next spurt of growth may come from, once e-commerce has reached maturity, says Naryshkine. He says it is "amazing" that Bekker and the company are already looking beyond the current businesses.
Naspers shares, although still at highs, came off slightly - 0.43% ? in early morning trade after the weekend's news.
Naryshkine expects some sympathy selling, but notes once shareholders realise the move "is the right thing to do, and their wealth creator is going hunting (in the business sense) and will return fresh and invigorated, full of fresh ideas for the company, they will be happy".
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