CFO shares the Naspers playbook: Another Tencent on the horizon?

The incredible story of Naspers is testimony to fact that success follows laser-like focus based on the right long-term vision. In this insightful interview with Naspers CFO Basil Sgourdos, the group has followed a similar playbook for decades: travel widely, expose yourself to global trends, take disciplined bets in promising areas, and as trends are confirmed, increase the scale of the bets. You could also describe the Naspers playbook as one of actively seeking out Fat Pitches globally and when they've been confirmed, taking a full swing. In this results-day interview, Sgourdos left me feeling the bets Naspers has been taking in online classifieds, food delivery and now blockchain, are likely to deliver excellent returns for shareholders. As for the early investment in Libra, Facebook's new cybercurrency, another Tencent anyone? - Alec Hogg