Africa's largest company Naspers appoints Fabricio Bloisi as CEO
TLDR
- Naspers, Africa's top company by market cap at R717 billion ($39 billion), names Fabricio Bloisi as new CEO after Bob van Dijk's sudden resignation.
- Fabricio Bloisi, currently CEO of iFood and a Naspers portfolio company in Brazil, to take over the role starting from July 1st.
- Bloisi will succeed Ervin Tu, who served as interim CEO post van Dijk's exit, overseeing key entities like Udemy, Stack Overflow, Tencent, SimilarWeb, and SkillsSoft within Naspers and Prosus.
Naspers, Africa's largest company by market capitalization valued at R717 billion ($39 billion), has appointed Fabricio Bloisi as CEO, following the abrupt resignation of Bob van Dijk in September 2023.
Like van Dijk, Bloisi will also serve as the CEO of Prosus, a subsidiary of Naspers, overseeing a portfolio that includes Udemy, Stack Overflow, Tencent, SimilarWeb, and SkillsSoft.
Fabricio Bloisi, currently the CEO of iFood, a food delivery company and Naspers portfolio company based in Brazil, will assume the role from 1 July. He will replace Ervin Tu, who was appointed interim CEO after van Dijk's departure.
Key Takeaways
Bloisi assumes leadership of Naspers amid a significant challenge: a bloated structure stemming from a substantial discount between its share price and net asset value (NAV). While Naspers shares trade at R4,074 per share, the company's NAV stands at R6,622 per share, largely due to its stake in Chinese tech giant Tencent held via Prosus. To address this disparity, Naspers has implemented a share repurchase program over the past two years. Market observers interpret Naspers' decision to appoint Bloisi as CEO as a signal of the company's desire for an operator capable of driving growth and scaling its e-commerce portfolio, which is poised to achieve tangible profitability. Bloisi's leadership is expected to steer Naspers through its current challenges and capitalize on opportunities to unlock shareholder value, particularly in its e-commerce ventures.
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