Following digital giant Naspers’s latest announcement that it has bought back R564.4 million worth of shares, ITWeb calculates that it has now spent R130 billion returning value to shareholders.
Naspers, with a current share price of R581.17, has long derived most of its value from its 24% stake in Tencent, the Chinese technology conglomerate known for its range of internet-based products and services, primarily in gaming, social media, digital content and financial technology.
Yesterday, the company said that between 1 September and 5 September, it bought 98 781 shares.
Listed on the JSE with a secondary listing on A2X, Naspers owns its Tencent stake via Prosus, in which it holds a 56.92% majority stake. Its Tencent ownership has been a concern for investors, as it discounts Naspers’s other operations, such as News24 and Takealot.
Naspers, which indirectly acquired 46.5% of Tencent in 2001, began share buybacks in 2020. This programme means that investors who own Naspers shares now have a larger stake in the company’s non-Tencent operations, as the buyback gradually reduces the number of shares in circulation.
The company’s Tencent stake is primarily held by Prosus, which stood at 24% as of December 2024, after selling shares to fund the buyback programme.
Between 2020 and 2025, Naspers has repurchased 17% of its own shares, with the overall company’s market capitalisation now at R910 billion.
In June, Naspers reported revenue up 20% to R130 billion, based on the exchange rate at the time of its year-end results to March. Its core headline earnings, a key measure of profitability, rose 46% to R56 billion.
Founded in 1915 by attorney William Angus Hofmeyr as De Nasionale Pers (The National Press), the company was established to promote Afrikaner nationalism and initially focused on publishing for the Afrikaner community, with its first major newspaper being De Burger (later Die Burger).
In the 1980s, it began diversifying by launching M-Net. As it grew, it also bought the iconic Drum magazine – a bastion of anti-apartheid investigative articles, sources across the internet show.
Naspers spun M-Net owner MultiChoice out in 2019 when the pay-TV company listed on the JSE. French media giant Canal+ is currently in the midst of buying MultiChoice for $30 billion at R125 a share.
Naspers has now become a global consumer internet company and one of the largest technology investors in the world. Its current focus is on artificial intelligence, through which it aims to improve productivity, accelerate innovation, and build a high-impact portfolio that leverages data and customer insights.
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