How much you would have if you invested R1,000 in South Africa’s biggest company in 2005

Naspers has seen massive growth over the last twenty years, with R1,000 invested in 2005 now worth over R66,000.

The century-old company has transformed from a publisher to a global technology giant with a large presence in South Africa, China and Europe.

The group started as Nasionale Pers (which would become Naspers), a pro-Afrikaner media house. Despite being independent, it had strong links to the former National Party.

It would go on to become the largest publisher in South Africa throughout the twentieth century, with several publications, such as Huisgenoot, still in circulation.

The company would change course in the 1980s after it purchased pay-TV service M-Net in the 1980s, which has now become MultiChoice.

It was listed on the JSE in 1994, and M-Net founder Koos Bekker would become CEO in 1997.

Under Bekker’s leadership, Napsers concluded a massive deal in 2001 to acquire a 46.5% stake in Chinese tech company Tencent for $32 million.

Tencent has grown into a technology juggernaut. It runs the highly popular WeChat messaging service and is also the largest video game company in the world.

Tencent is now worth R11 trillion, and much of Naspers’s value is tied to its stake in Tencent, even if it has reduced its stake.

However, Naspers still plays a major role in the South African tech space. It owns Takealot, Mr D, AutoTrader, Property24, and PayU. It also owns Media24, which includes News24.

In 2019, Nasper’s ownership structure also changed dramatically. It listed its international assets on Euronext Amsterdam via Prosus.

Naspers is the majority owner of Prosus, while Prosus owns 49% of Naspers via a cross-ownership structure.

With Prosus holding the group’s Tencent stake, it has a market cap of R2.2 trillion. Naspers has a market cap of R872 billion, making it South Africa’s largest company by value.

In the 2019 listing of Prosus, Naspers shareholders could either receive shares in Prosus or retain their full holding in Naspers. For our comparison, we will assume that shareholders kept their Naspers shares.

Share price

Naspers’ share price has seen massive growth over the last two decades, rising from R73.69 per share to R4,904.93 on 18 March 2025. This marks an increase of 6,556% per share.

This means that if you invested R1,000 in 2005, your investment would now be worth R66,561.67 – a remarkable return.

Regarding valuation, Naspers appears to be reasonably valued. The group’s price-to-earnings (PE) ratio stands at about 14, and the forward at around 13.

For the half year ending September 2024, the company reported a 74% increase in core headline earnings to $1.5 billion.

This came through improved e-commerce profitability and contributions from Tencent. The tech giant has also made a host of changes.

The group recently appointed Fabricio Bloisi as its new CEO. The Brazilian previously worked at the Naspers-owned food delivery service iFood.

Bloisi is sticking with the industry he knows, with the group recently announcing the plan to acquire Dutch food delivery company Just Eat Takeaway.com.

Prosus’ affiliate MIH Bidco has entered into a conditional agreement to purchase Just Eat Takewaway.com. The deal is worth roughly R80 billion.

Just Eat Takewaway.com operates in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, where it is profitable and cash-generative. The group believes that there is considerable growth potential.

Prosus also plans to list several of its Indian businesses after the successful IPO of Swiggy – another food delivery business.

However, like all investments, there are risks to Naspers. Tencent was designated as a Chinese military company by the US government earlier this year. This could potentially lead to sanctions.