Naspers Ltd. - Introduction

Introduction

PO Box 2271
Cape Town 8000
South Africa
Telephone: ( +27) 21 406 2121
Fax: ( +27) 21 406 2913
Web site: http://www.naspers.com

Public Company
Incorporated: 1915 as Nasionale Pers
Sales: ZAR 12.8 billion ($2.09 billion) (2004)
Stock Exchanges: Johannesburg NASDAQ
Ticker Symbol: NPN NPSN
NAIC: 511110 Newspaper Publishers; 323110 Commercial Lithographic Printing; 323111 Commercial Gravure Printing; 511130 Book Publishers; 515210 Cable and Other Subscription Programming; 518111 Internet Service Providers; 551112 Offices of Other Holding Companies

Naspers Ltd. is one of South Africa's leading and most diver-sified media companies. South Africa remains the company's single most important market, at 64 percent of its 2004 sales of ZAR 12.8 billion ($2.1 billion). Naspers is also one of the leading media groups in sub-Saharan Africa, with operations in some 40 countries, including the continent's islands states. Naspers has also begun building a presence in Europe, notably with operations in Greece, Cyprus, and the Netherlands, as well as in Asia, especially in Thailand and China. Naspers operates in five core areas. The company's television component includes its control of MIH, MultiChoice South Africa, MultiChoice Africa, and M-Net; the NetMed pay-tv service in Greece and Cyprus; and a 31.1 percent stake in United Broadcasting Corporation in Thailand. The company is also targeting an entry into the future Chinese satellite television market. Internet services is another major part of the group's operations, and includes M-Web in South Africa and Thailand; majority control of SportsCn, a leading Internet portal in China; control of Hong Kong-listed Tencent Ltd., which provides the QQ instant messaging service in China, Taiwan, Thailand, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia and in South Africa; and the Media24 Digital brand of e-media Web sites. Print media represents Naspers origins and includes its 60 newspaper titles, such as Die Burger, Beeld, Volksblad, Rapport, City Press, and 30 magazine titles, including Drum, Family, Huisgenoot, You, Finansies & Tegniek, and Finance Week, as well as licensed and localized editions of Cosmopolitan, Runner's World, Sports Illustrated, and others. The Book Publishing and Private Education division encompasses Naspers' Via Afika unit, the leading African book publisher operating under a number of imprints, and its Educor private education component, South Africa's leading private provider of onsite and correspondence courses for adults, as well as corporate training programs. Naspers is listed on the Johannesburg, NASDAQ, and Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchanges.