Prosus Explained

Prosus N.V.
Type:Naamloze Vennootschap
Traded As:

A2X

PRX
AEX component

Location City:Amsterdam
Location Country:Netherlands
Area Served:Worldwide
Key People:Koos Bekker
(chairman)
Fabricio Bloisi (CEO)[1]
Basil Sgourdos
(CFO)
Industry:Investments
Num Employees:15,677[2]
Parent:Naspers Limited

Prosus N.V., or Prosus, is a global investment group that invests and operates across sectors and markets with long-term growth potential. It is among the largest technology investors in the world.[3]

Prosus has invested across multiple verticals, including social / gaming, classifieds, payments, financial technology, educational technology, food delivery, and ecommerce.[4] Products and services of its businesses and investments are used by more than 1.5 billion people in 89 markets.[2]

Prosus is majority-owned by South African multinational Naspers.[5] In September 2019, Prosus's ordinary shares were listed on Euronext Amsterdam and, as a secondary inward-listing, on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.[6] Subsequent to its, Prosus became the largest consumer Internet company in Europe by asset value.[7] Shares in the company were reported to have "soared on debut,"[8] [5] although the company was trading at a significant discount to the value of its portfolio.[9]

Business

The group's expansion into Internet platforms began in the 1990s,[2] spanning various tech investments,[10] including:

Prosus is best known for its investments in Tencent, dating back to a 45% share in 2001.[15] In 2019 the company attempted to acquire Just Eat, but lost the bidding war to Takeaway.com.[16]

In March 2022, Prosus announced it was writing off its 25.9% stake (worth approximately US$700m) in social media company VK after VK's CEO Vladimir Kirienko was put on a U.S. sanctions list.[17] [18]

Controversy

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, many international companies, particularly Western, pulled out of Russia. Unlike most of its Western competitors, Prosus was slow to announce any disinvestments or scaling back of its operations in Russia. It was criticised in particular with regard to its Avito platform (a subsidiary of OLX), which, among other activities, provided classified advertising services that were used by the Russian army for recruiting purposes.[19] [20] In October 2022, Prosus agreed to sell Avito service to Kismet Capital Group for $2.4 bln.[21]

Acquisitions

!No!Acquisition Date!Company!Price (USD)!Ref
1June 3, 2021Stack Overflow$1.8 billion[22] [23]
2June 15, 2021GoodHabitz $257 million[24] [25]
3August 19, 2022iFood$1.9 billion[26]

Notes and References

  1. News: CEO Steps Down. 18 September 2023. Reuters.
  2. Web site: newglobaltechgroup.com. ww38.newglobaltechgroup.com.
  3. Web site: Update on repurchase program . prosus.com.
  4. Web site: Schulze . Elizabeth . September 11, 2019 . A $100 billion tech company you've never heard of just listed in Europe . CNBC.
  5. Web site: Wexler . Alexandra . September 11, 2019 . Introducing Prosus: A Rare European Mega-Tech Stock . www.wsj.com.
  6. Web site: Prosus - About. 2021-07-13. www.prosus.com.
  7. Web site: Naspers Announces Revised Timetable for the Listing of Prosus on Euronext Amsterdam and JSE. Jul 19, 2019. Oct 24, 2022.
  8. News: Prosus debut creates €120bn European tech giant . Financial Times. 11 September 2019 .
  9. Web site: 2021-05-12. Naspers, Prosus launch share swap deal to shrink S.Africa discount. 2021-07-13. Reuters.
  10. Web site: Our portfolio . 2024-08-12 . www.prosus.com . en.
  11. Web site: prosus 2022 annual report . 25 September 2023.
  12. Web site: Prosus to acquire remaining stake in iFood from Just Eat . 2022-08-20 . Prosus . en.
  13. News: Dummett . Ben . 2 June 2021 . Stack Overflow Sold to Tech Giant Prosus for $1.8 Billion . Wall Street Journal . 2 June 2021.
  14. News: Singh . Manish . Prosus Ventures leads $13 million investment in Pakistan's ride-hailing giant Bykea . techcrunch.com. 30 September 2020 . 30 September 2020.
  15. News: Jolanda van de Beld. Gouden aankoop brengt Prosus in de problemen. 2021-07-13. NRC. 12 July 2021 . nl.
  16. News: Takeaway overtreft bod Prosus voor Just Eat. 2021-07-13. NRC. 19 December 2019 . nl . Pijpker . Joost .
  17. News: Prosus to write off $700 mln stake in Russia's VK Group. 7 March 2022. Reuters.
  18. Web site: Directors resign from VK board. Directors resign from VK board. Oct 24, 2022.
  19. Web site: Pikuła . Rafał . 18 March 2022 . Firma powiązana z Grupą OLX pomaga w rekrutacji do rosyjskiej armii. Z rynku wycofać się nie chce . 2022-03-18 . wyborcza.biz . pl.
  20. Web site: Khumalo . Sibongile . 'Too early' to decide fate of Naspers-owned Russian classified ads business . 2022-03-18 . Fin24 . en-US.
  21. Web site: Prosus to sell Russian classifieds business Avito to Kismet for $2.4B . Toby . Sterling . Reuters . en. October 14, 2022.
  22. Web site: Ch. Prashanth. CEO. rasekar. 2021-06-02. Prosus's Acquisition of Stack Overflow: Our Exciting Next Chapter. 2021-06-24. Stack Overflow Blog. en-US.
  23. Web site: Salter. Jim. 2021-06-03. Stack Overflow sold to tech investor Prosus for $1.8 billion. 2021-06-24. Ars Technica. en-us.
  24. Web site: Prosus to acquire majority stake in GoodHabitz. 2021-06-24. Prosus to acquire majority stake in GoodHabitz. en. 2021-06-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20210624204414/https://www.prosus.com/news/prosus-to-acquire-majority-stake-in-goodhabitz/. dead.
  25. Web site: Prosus acquires GoodHabitz for $257M - AIM Group. 2021-06-24. aimgroup.com. en-US.
  26. News: 2022-08-19 . Just Eat Takeaway soars on $1.8 billion iFood stake sale to Prosus . en . Reuters . 2022-08-20.

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