Prosus

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 N.V.
TypeNaamloze Vennootschap
Euronext Amsterdam: PRX
JSE: PRX
A2X: PRX
AEX component
ISINNL0013654783
IndustryInvestments
Headquarters
Amsterdam
,
Netherlands
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Koos Bekker
(chairman)
Ervin Tu (interim CEO)[1]
Basil Sgourdos
(CFO)
Number of employees
15,677[2]
ParentNaspers Limited
Websiteprosus.com

Prosus has invested across multiple verticals, including social / gaming, classifieds, payments and fintech, edtech, 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 IPOTooltip Initial public offering, 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
Prosus' head office is located in the Symphony Building in the Zuidas business district in Amsterdam.

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

  • Social - Tencent (26.16%)[11]
  • Classifieds - OLX (100%), EPMG
  • Fintech - PayU (98.8%), Remitly, Red Dot Payment, BUX
  • Food - iFood (100%),[12] Delivery Hero (22.3%), Swiggy (38.8%), Oda, Flink, Wolt, Foodics, ShareBite, Facily
  • EdTech - Stack Overflow,[13] Brainly, Udemy, Skillsoft, GoStudent, GoodHabitz, Eruditus, BYJU's, Platzi, eduMe, and SoloLearn
  • Ecommerce - eMAG (80.1%), Meesho, Mensa Brands, PharmEasy, Ula, ElasticRun, merXu, The Good Glamm Group
  • Travel - Ctrip (6%)
  • Mobility / Logistics - Bykea,[14] 99minutos, QuickRide, Dott, Shipper
  • AgriTech: DeHaat, VeGrow, CaptainFresh
  • Other: Airmeet, Wayflyer

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 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine which began on February 24, many international, particularly Western companies pulled out of Russia. Unlike most of its Western competitors, Prosus has been slow to announce any disinvestments or scaling back of its operations in Russia, drawing criticism. The criticism concerned in particular its Avito service (a subsidiary of OLX), which among others publishes advertisements about recruiting to the Russian army.[19][20]

Acquisitions
No Acquisition Date Company Price (USD) Ref
1 June 3, 2021 Stack Overflow $1.8 billion [21][22]
2 June 15, 2021 GoodHabitz $257 million [23][24]
3 August 19, 2022 iFood $1.8 billion [12][25]

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

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