Naspers Internationalization

Foray in India
Tradus.in

Introduction To Naspers
Founded :1915
Headquartered in Cape Town,South Africa
One of the biggest Media houses on the Planet
Business: Classifieds, E-retail, Market places, Comparison Shopping, Pay-Tv,
Print Media etc.
Revenues of the group reaching R 62.7 Billion as on September,2014. (FY
13-14)
Has footprint in over 130 countries

Printing Press To An E-commerce Conglomerate

Timeline

1920-1979

From News Papers To magazines

1985

Print Media house to Digital Media Service Provider

1993

Entered Europe via Filmnet another Paytv operater

1997

Bought a Open TV which held technology of set-top box

2002

Financial Restructuring

May 2006

Entered Brazil by acquiring 30% of group editorial Abril

Dec 2006

Entered Russian internet business by acquiring Tradus

2008

Completed Acquisition of IBIBO group

Bought Tradus
Invested In Astrum, Leading Game developer

2010

Started Tradus in india

2012

Invested in Flipkart for $102 million which accounts 10 % which

increased to 19% after second spree of investment in 2013
Acquired 80% of Stake in Redbus.in
50% of stake in Travelbotiqueonline.com

Investments of Naspers Since FY

2008

And thus, The E-Commerce Conglomerate

Restructuring Activities Carried-out

Financial restructuring of MIH holdings & MIH limited in 2002 :
Naspers had assumed sole leadership of the, then largest Pay-Tv service providers,
i.e., MIH ltd. By undergoing massive financial restructuring.
Naspers bought out the minority shareholders in MIH ltd. and MIH holding Ltd. by
offering them equivalent shares in Naspers Ltd. Listed in Johannesburg stock
exchange.

Investment in Flipkart & subsequent Portfolio Restructuring of

Tradus.in
Investment of $51 million and $302 million was made by the group in Flipkart in the
two rounds of fund-raising done in 2014 to retain 16.63% stake in the company.

Restructuring Activities Carried-out

(Contd.,)
This heavy investment in Flipkart is immediately followed by a Portfolio
restructuring of Tradus.in.
The Product verticals have been reduced to just one, i.e., Food and grocery.
(the only verticals Flipkart does not deal in.)

Corporate Re-Structuring of Allegro IN 2014 :

Specific emphasis on removing corporate layers - likely to result in headcount
reduction of 300+ employees.
Re-investing in mobile development 80 engineers to be added to
workpool.

Divestments In FY 2013-14 & Their Implications

Divestment made by selling of Trendsales to TaMedia in 2014 :
The Danish apparel e-tailer formely owned by Naspers Ricardo, was sold to Tamedia, for an Undisclosed
amount.
The reason being, the E-tailers strategic direction does not fall in line with the groups Strategy.
The company thus, divested in the firm where they cannot pay sufficient focus on.

Potential sale of three of MWEBs divisions MWEB Business, MWEB Wi-Fi,

and Optinet :
MWEB Business is the business division of MWEB to cater for the specific connectivity
requirements of South Africas medium and large enterprises.
Optinet in turn is responsible for the core network and other network infrastructure for MWEB and
Naspers.
Strategic decision to focus on the consumer ISP business, without being an infrastructure player.

Conclusions
Highlighted throughout the case was
o the pattern of entry timing
o strategy adopted by Naspers ,to enter various countries and continents
across the globe.
In relevance to India, Naspers entry into e-tailing into the country via
tradus.in has been discussed.
The Investment and Divestment activities carried out, which bode well for the
group have been discussed.
The implications of recent divestments have been discussed.