Koos Bekker: M-Net founder, Naspers chief executive and chair

analysisNaspers states that Koos Bekker led the founding team of the M-Net/MultiChoice pay-television business in 1985 and was a founder of MTN Group Limited, and that he 'headed the group in its international and internet expansion until 1997 when he became chief executive officer of Naspers'. Naspers's 2004 annual report states that he led the founding team of M-Net in 1985, served as chief executive of the MIH group until 1997 and was a founding director of MTN and M-Web; an online encyclopedia entry gives the same sequence, adding that M-Net arose from a project paper for his MBA and that he was a founding director of MTN in the 1990s. A 2012 news report gives other dates: it states that in 1984, at the end of his studies, Bekker became chief executive of the newly formed M-Net Limited, created by Nasionale Pers and other South African media companies, that a separate arm of M-Net became Multichoice Limited, later renamed MIH Holdings, and that he was chief executive of the MIH group from 1991 to 1997 before becoming chief executive of Naspers. The 1984 date comes from that report: the company records in the retained set give 1985 for the founding of M-Net and give no start date for his MIH chief-executive role, and the same 2012 report states in a later section that he led the founding team of M-Net in 1985. A news report of 20 August 2025 on Cobus Stofberg's retirement states that Bekker sought the input of Stofberg and another colleague on his MBA thesis describing the idea of M-Net, that in 1984 they sent the thesis to Ton Vosloo, then Naspers's chief executive, and that the following year the three co-founded M-Net under Naspers's banner. Later news reports of 20 August 2025 and 26 August 2026 also give 1985 as the year M-Net was founded, and no company record in the retained set dates Bekker's appointment as M-Net chief executive. ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7}

analysisBekker was chief executive of Naspers from 1997 until 31 March 2014. Naspers's 2004 annual report lists him in the executive category with 6 October 1997 as the date first appointed to his position, titles him managing director and states that he had been chief executive since 1997. A 2025 news report states that in 2007 Cobus Stofberg was appointed interim chief executive of Naspers during Bekker's one-year sabbatical; no company record of that interim appointment was found in the retained record. Naspers states that Bekker retired as chief executive on 31 March 2014, and its annual financial statements for the year to 31 March 2014 record that Bob van Dijk succeeded him as chief executive on 1 April 2014. ^{1 8 3 5}

analysisNaspers's annual financial statements for the year to 31 March 2014 state that the outgoing chief executive, J P Bekker, did not earn any remuneration from the group: no salary, bonus, car scheme, medical or pension contributions were payable. His contract ran for five years from 1 April 2008 and was extended until February 2014; no remuneration was paid for the extended contract, no share offers were made and no compensation was to apply on termination. Two secondary accounts add other statements. An online encyclopedia entry states that during his tenure as chief executive the market capitalisation of Naspers grew from about US$1.2 billion to US$45 billion and that for fifteen years as chief executive he earned no salary, bonus or perks and was compensated solely through stock option grants that vested over time; the entry marks the compensation sentences as lacking a citation. A 2012 news report, citing a business magazine, states that during his tenure the company's market capitalisation rose from about US$600 million to US$25 billion while he drew no salary, bonus or benefits. The two market-capitalisation series differ, and no company record in the retained set verifies either. The same 2014 statements list only S J Z Pacak in their table of executive directors' scheme shares not yet released at 31 March 2014 and state that executive directors did not participate in any other group share-based incentives for that year; Naspers's 2004 annual report states generally that executive directors participate as a long-term incentive in share incentive schemes whose shares normally vest over a five-year period. Neither record documents option grants to Bekker. ^{1 2 3 4}

analysisNaspers states that on 17 April 2015 Bekker succeeded Ton Vosloo as chair of the Naspers board; its leadership page describes him as the non-independent non-executive chair. News reports of April 2015 state that Bekker, the former chief executive, re-joined the board as non-executive chairman after a year's sabbatical; one report states that he had taken the year off to look for Naspers's next big investment in information and communications technology and had been set to return as chairman. A 2026 news report summarises that he ran Naspers as chief executive from 1997 to March 2014, stepped away for a year and returned as chairman in April 2015. A market-data aggregator gives other dates, listing Jacobus Petrus Bekker as chairman of Naspers Limited from 16 April 2015 and Theunissen Vosloo as chairman from 6 December 2009 to 16 April 2015. The company's own records, 17 April 2015 for the succession and a chairmanship that Naspers's 2004 annual report says Vosloo had held since 1997, after serving as executive chairman from 1992 to 1997, are the primary statements, and the record does not explain the aggregator's dates. A news report of 22 April 2015 gives 17 April 2015 as the day Vosloo retired, and both it and a news report of 21 April 2015 state that he had chaired Naspers for 23 years; no record explaining the aggregator's dates was found in the retained material. ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7}

analysisBekker chairs Prosus as well as Naspers. The schedules of directors in Amendment No. 1 to the Schedule 13D on Trip.com Group Limited, dated 10 February 2023, list Jacobus Petrus (Koos) Bekker as non-executive chair of both Prosus N.V. and Naspers Limited. A market-data aggregator's profile lists him as chairman of Prosus N.V. from 24 August 2022 and as a board member of Tencent Holdings Limited from 13 November 2012, both as active positions. These dates are the aggregator's alone: company records and news reports in the retained set describe Bekker as chair of both Naspers and Prosus but give no start date for the Prosus chair, and no company record of his Tencent board seat was found in the retained record. Naspers acquired a 46.5% stake in Tencent in 2001, and a news report of 18 September 2023 describes the deal as an investment made by Koos Bekker. ^{8 5 9 10 11}

analysisNews reports of 26 August 2026 state that Koos Bekker set the date for his retirement as chair of Naspers and Prosus at the companies' joint annual general meeting that Wednesday: he will retire as chairman of both companies in the financial year ending March 2028. One report adds that Naspers had not said whether the special high-voting share class would survive his departure and that no successor had been named. The timetable is reported by news media; no company announcement of it is in the retained record. ^{4 12 13}

analysisA market-data aggregator's profile of Jacobus Petrus Bekker states that he founded MTN Group, is non-executive chairman of Naspers and a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, and previously was chief executive and executive director of South Ocean Holdings Ltd., an administration and financial manager at South Ocean Electric Wire Co., group chief executive and executive director of Naspers, chief executive of MIH Holdings, a member of the South African Institute of Stockbrokers, chief executive of Radiant Group (Pty) Ltd. and a director of MTN Group; its table of former positions lists him as chief executive of South Ocean Holdings Limited until 30 November 2020 and of Naspers Limited until 30 March 2014. The record does not establish that these entries concern the same person; they may reflect a different individual of the same name. Naspers's leadership-page biography and its 2004 annual report confirm the MTN, MIH and Naspers roles but mention none of the South Ocean, Radiant Group, accounting-institute or stockbroker entries, and Naspers gives 31 March 2014, not 30 March 2014, as his last day as chief executive. ^{1 2 3}

analysisThe directors' interests table in Naspers's annual financial statements for the year to 31 March 2014 shows J P (Koos) Bekker with 11 687 808 Naspers N ordinary shares held directly and 4 688 691 indirectly, 16 376 499 in total, at 31 March 2014, the same as at 31 March 2013. A news report of 23 December 2025, citing regulatory disclosures by Naspers and Prosus made under JSE and European director-dealing rules, states that a family trust linked to Bekker sold 792 800 Naspers N ordinary shares on the JSE between 17 and 19 December 2025 for R860.5 million and, over the same days, 1 556 807 Prosus shares for approximately €81.7 million; both companies said the transactions were undertaken to fund building operations at hospitality properties in which the trust has an interest, and the report states that the trust retained 90% of the shareholding in both companies that it held before the disposals. A market-data aggregator's insider profile lists Bekker with 14,189,691 Prosus N.V. class N shares (0.65%), dated 30 March 2026; that figure is not confirmed by Naspers or Prosus in the retained record. ^{4 5 1}

analysisAccording to an online encyclopedia entry, Carrim testified in 2020 that Koos Bekker had played a significant role in irregularly pressuring government officials to protect MultiChoice's effective monopoly in South African pay television. A news report of his testimony states that he described meetings with Bekker on encryption in September 2013 and March 2014 and that his removal as minister in May 2014 had been predicted in an email to staff by Bekker two months in advance. These are Carrim's allegations, and no finding concerning Bekker is in the retained record. No response by Bekker was found in the retained record; Naspers told the commission that it would not give evidence, saying Carrim had not suggested that Naspers had done anything illegal. The same encyclopedia entry states that the Zondo Commission found no wrongdoing on the part of MultiChoice. ^{1 2 3}