Koos Bekker
#1221

Koos Bekker

South Africa 73 years old Self-Made

Overview

Source of Wealth
Media, investments
Residence
Cape Town
Education
Columbia Business School (Master of Business Administration)
University of Witwatersrand (LLB)
Marital Status
Married
Children
2

Assets

  • Naspers
    8,435,000 shares @ -
    -
    NPN-ZA
  • Prosus
    19,646,000 shares @ -
    -
    PRX-NL

Biography

Koos Bekker is revered for transforming South African newspaper publisher Naspers into an e-commerce investor and cable TV powerhouse.

He led Naspers to pay a reported $34 million for a third of Chinese Internet firm Tencent Holdings in 2001--perhaps the greatest venture investment ever.

In 2019, Naspers put some assets into two publicly-traded companies, entertainment firm MultiChoice Group and Prosus, which contains the Tencent stake

Naspers has sold down its stake in Tencent over the years and today owns less than 25%.

Bekker, who retired as the CEO of Naspers in March 2014, returned as chairman in April 2015.

About

His Babylonstoren estate, nearly 600 acres in South Africa's Western Cape region, features architecture dating back to 1690, a farm, orchard and vineyard and more.