Businesses Owned By Koos Bekker
Businesses Owned By Koos Bekker. Jacobus Petrus “Koos” Bekker is a South African billionaire businessman, and the chairman of media group Naspers. The company operates in 130 countries and is listed on the London Stock Exchange and Johannesburg Stock Exchange. It has the largest market capitalisation of any media company outside the U.S., China and India. Koos Bekker was born in Potchefstroom, South Africa in 1952. He attended Hoër Volkskool Heidelberg and completed degrees at Stellenbosch University, in law and literature, and at Wits University, in law. He holds an MBA from Columbia University, New York and an honorary Doctorate in Commerce from Stellenbosch University. The Forbes 2021 list of The World’s Billionaires ranked Bekker as the fourth-wealthiest South African, with a fortune of R32.5 billion. Below are some of the businesses owned by Koos Bekker.
M-Net/Multichoice
As a result of a project paper, he, with a few young colleagues, founded one of the first two pay-television services outside of the US. M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children’s series, sport and movies. While the TV signal is generally encrypted, M-Net showed some programmes ‘free to air’ in its “Open Time” slot between 5 p.m. and 7 pm, until the slot closed on 1 April 2007.
Naspers
Naspers Limited is a South African multinational holding company headquartered in Cape Town, with interests in publishing, online retail and venture capital investing in the consumer internet sector. In May 2021 it was announced that Naspers’ Dutch listed subsidiary Prosus would become the company’s principal shareholder, owning up to 49.5% of its parent as part of a cross ownership structure. Bekker’s compensation package was unusual in that for fifteen years as CEO he earned no salary, bonus or perks. He was compensated solely via stock option grants that vested over time.
MTN Group
In the 1990s, Bekker was a founding director of mobile communication company MTN. MTN Group Limited, formerly M-Cell, is a South African multinational mobile telecommunications company, operating in many African and Asian countries. Its head office is in Johannesburg. As of December 2020, MTN recorded 280 million subscribers, making it the ninth largest mobile network operator in the world, and the largest in Africa. Active in over 20 countries, one-third of company revenue comes from Nigeria, where it holds about 35% market share.
