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| Description: Net Worth: $1.9 BILLION Industry: Media Country of Citizenship: South Africa Age: 61 Number of Jobs Created: 741 In April, Koos Bekker stepped down as chief executive of Naspers, the media juggernaut he has led since 1997. During his tenure, Bekker transformed the print publishing concern he inherited into a massive media company with interests in cable television and publishing. It has assets in over 129 countries across Africa, Europe, Latin America, China, India, and Russia. Bekker’s knack for spotting potential opportunities remains unrivaled – he turned Naspers’ satellite television into virtual monopolies across Africa. He also expanded aggressively into new markets and shrewdly invested in Ten Cent, China’s largest and most-used internet portal with a market cap of over $120 billion. He invested in Mail.ru, a fast-growing Russian mail order company. Naspers owns MWEB, South Africa’s second-largest internet service provider, magazine publisher, Media24, and OLX, a business classifieds company. Bekker himself owns a 200-hectare farm, winery and luxury hotel in the northeast of Cape Town. He is expected to return to Naspers as chairman after a year off. |
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