Founding and Afrikaner nationalism
In December 1914,[6] twelve years after the end of the Second Boer War which had devastated most of South Africa and left most Afrikaners impoverished and subject to the British Empire, and during the pro-German Maritz rebellion, a group of sixteen prominent Cape Afrikaners decided at a meeting at District Bank manager Hendrik Bergh's house in Stellenbosch to form a publishing company that would support Afrikaner nationalism in the Union of South Africa.[7][8][9]
That meeting led to Willie A. Hofmeyr founding Die Nasionale Pers Beperkt (National Press Ltd) in 1915 as a publisher of newspapers and magazines. At the time, Hofmeyr was a well-known Cape lawyer and organizer for the then-Afrikaner nationalist, conservative National Party, which would later implement the racially segregated system of apartheid in South Africa.[10][11]
The firm's name was commonly shortened to Naspers (Die Nasionale Pers Beperk), the contraction eventually becoming used even by the company itself.
The launch of Die Nasionale Pers was financed by Jannie Marais, a prominent Stellenbosch farmer who had made a fortune in the Kimberley diamond mines and was the largest shareholder of the District Bank.[7][9]
The press was closely associated with the National Party,[12] founded by General J. B. M. Hertzog in January 1914.[13] It began publishing the Afrikaans-language daily Die Burger (initially De Burger in Dutch) in June 1915, followed by its first magazine, Die Huisgenoot (initially De Huisgenoot), in 1916.[14]
Domestic expansion (1917–1986)
In 1917, Die Nasionale Pers bought the weekly Bloemfontein-based Afrikaans newspaper Het Volksblad (now Volksblad), the first expansion beyond the Cape Province for the company.[15] By 1924, the links to the National Party were formalised.[6] In 1925, Die Volksblad started publishing daily. In 1937, it started Die Oosterlig in the Eastern Cape.[15]
Also in 1937, Die Nasionale Pers set up the company Voortrekkerpers in the Transvaal to support the National Party in Transvaal by publishing Die Transvaler.[15] Initially the Cape National Party tried to control the extremism of the National Party in the Transvaal by appointing Hendrik Verwoerd as the paper's first editor but he would side with Transvaal branch and Nationale Pers gave up editorial control in 1939.[15]
Diversification, IPO and international expansion (1986–2003)
In 1986, Die Nasionale Pers formed a partnership with other South African publishing companies and launched pay-TV service M-Net.[16] M-Net proved successful and, with sister companies MultiChoice and M-Web, steadily expanded its operations both in South Africa and internationally throughout the 1990s.
In 1994, Die Nasionale Pers became publicly listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in South Africa.[17] The company also obtained a Level I American Depository Receipt listing on the London Stock Exchange.
In 1998, the company formally changed its name to Naspers Limited.[14] Naspers became increasingly focused on digital businesses; launching South African web portal Media24 and online retailer Kalahari.com in 1998 and Chinese-focused web portal SportCN in 2000.
In May 2001, Naspers purchased 46.5 percent of Chinese internet company
Online ventures (2003–2015)
With the success of the investment in Tencent, Naspers became an investor in a number of consumer internet startups. In January 2007 Naspers purchased a 30% share of Russia's largest internet company VK (company) (formerly Mail.ru Group) for $165 million.[23]
Naspers had a particular focus on India, investing more than $4 billion from 2014 to 2019,[24] across multiple sectors, including into Byju and ibibo. In December 2018, Naspers invested $1 billion into Indian online food ordering and delivery service Swiggy,[25] the largest single investment made, outside of China, into a food tech company.[26]
Consolidation (2015–present)
In 2015, Naspers merged its South African–focused Kalahari.com online retail business with market leader Takealot.com, acquiring a 46% stake in the merged company and creating South Africa's largest online retailer.[27] By 2018, Naspers owned 96% of Takealot.com.[27]
In December 2016, Naspers announced that it had entered into an agreement to sell telecommunications company M-Web to Internet Solutions (a subsidiary of Japanese telecommunications conglomerate Nippon Telegraph and Telephone), pending approval by the South African competition authorities.[28][29] On 9 May 2017, it was announced that the South African competition authorities approved the proposed sale of M-Web, with 31 May 2017 being the effective commencement date.[30]
