Overnight, the continent's fortunes changed in the form of a $100 billion consumer internet company that listed publicly Wednesday in Amsterdam.
The company is called Prosus, and it's a spinoff of South African consumer internet conglomerate Naspers. Prosus said its market capitalization on its first day of trading is roughly $100 billion, making it one of the 10 biggest consumer internet groups in the world. "The listing of Prosus is an exciting step forwards for the group, giving global technology investors direct access to our unique and attractive portfolio of international consumer internet businesses," Naspers and Prosus Group CEO Bob van Dijk said in a press release Wednesday.
Prosus is not a consumer internet business itself, meaning it doesn't offer digital services under its own brand like Facebook or Alibaba, for example. Instead, it invests in a portfolio of global internet firms in sectors ranging from payments and fintech to food delivery., a gaming titan and owner of the hugely popular messaging app WeChat. Naspers made a $32 million investment in Tencent in 2001, a bet now worth $130 billion.
Under the new structure, Prosus will hold Nasper's Tencent stake, as well as positions in other firms like Russian social media company Mail.ru Group and German food delivery service Delivery Hero. Naspers will remain a majority owner of the new company.