Naspers, once the biggest company in South Africa, has lost R420 billion in market value over the past year, newsday.co.za reported.
The Naspers share price peaked at more than R1,305 per share in October 2025. At that level, the company’s market value was close to R1 trillion. Since then, the share price has dropped by 46%.
“The company trades at a deep discount to its underlying value. Management is actively taking steps to address the size of the discount,” FNB said.
According to the report, the fall came from a mix of causes. These include lower values for global tech shares, worries about Tencent and updates from the company itself.
Investors have raised concerns about how much Tencent is spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure and computing power. A slower economy in China has also weighed on Tencent’s value. So has careful regulation of tech platforms there.
Comments from Naspers leaders about investment plans also led to selling. They pointed to a lower earnings outlook for core assets in the near term.
FNB analysts said Tencent remains the biggest single risk for the group. They said any earnings miss could weaken the Prosus share price. That would in turn hit the Naspers share price.
Even so, many analysts, including those at FNB, believe the Naspers share price has room to rise. FNB also welcomed a change in how the group manages its investments.
“We like the new portfolio management approach from management. Corporate action in the core portfolio can result in a step change in growth,” the FNB analysts said.
According to the report, Naspers has changed its plan to focus on strong results in its business groups. These are mainly in regions with the most room to grow. FNB said several of the group’s assets could grow strongly, as Tencent and Delivery Hero did before.
Naspers was started in 1915 as Die Nasionale Pers. It printed and published newspapers, magazines and books. The company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1994 and grew into a global internet group.
In 2001, Naspers bought a 46.5% stake in Chinese company Tencent for $32 million. Tencent grew into one of the largest tech companies in the world. A R1,000 investment in Naspers in 2001 would have been worth R1.6 million at the 2025 peak.
In September 2019, Naspers moved its global consumer internet businesses into Prosus. The aim was to shrink the gap between its share price and its net asset value. The report said this did not work.
In September 2023, after shareholders approved it, Naspers and Prosus ended their complex cross-holding structure. The step was meant to make ownership simpler and shares easier to trade.
Naspers now runs its South African media and internet interests directly, and its international internet interests through Prosus. Its local investments include Takealot, Mr D Food, AutoTrader, Property24, Media24 and PayU.
Source: this article is based on reporting by newsday.co.za. Image: newsday.co.za. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Business desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Anelisa Nkuna covers business and money news for Tzaneen Voice. Anelisa reports on the rand, fuel prices, interest rates, jobs, Eskom, Transnet, farming and company results. The aim is simple: explain what the numbers mean for household budgets, small businesses and workers in South Africa.