The Naspers stable extended losses on Monday, with Asian tech stocks including Tencent under pressure amid reports Chinese regulators are looking to split up Alipay, the payments app owned by Jack Ma’s Ant Group.
Naspers, whose most valuable asset is a stake in Tencent, owner of the messaging app WeChat, has seen its value drop almost a fifth in the past month, wiping off more than R200bn as investors continue to worry about the safety of their capital in the Asian country amid a crackdown on technology companies.
Markets reeled on Monday as the Financial Times reported that Beijing wants to create a separate app for Alipay’s highly profitable loans business, adding to jitters in the market about the profits of major listed firms there.
In morning trade Tencent, of which the Naspers stable holds about 30%, fell 2.73%, having lost about 10% since late July, when it was ordered to give up exclusive licensing rights.
By the close of trade Naspers was down less than 1%, while Amsterdam listed Prosus was down 2.59%, in line with Tencent.
The combined R2.6-trillion group, headed by Bob van Dijk, has been among the most high-profile casualties since China started cracking down on technology companies at the end of 2020. The crackdown also led to the cancellation of a $37bn (R550bn) listing of Ant Group.
Chinese competition authorities ordered Tencent — in which Naspers is the largest shareholder — to stop exclusive music licensing deals and levied a small fine after taking similar action against other tech firms.
Naspers has fallen almost a fifth and Prosus more than 10% since late July, wiping about R600bn off their combined values.
Both had their worst days in about a month last Thursday on reports that Chinese regulators had instructed tech firms, including Tencent, to comply with new regulations aimed at protecting gaming minors.
This came after reports that Chinese regulators are stepping up efforts to limit online gaming. The South China Morning Post, citing unidentified people, reported that regulators told Chinese tech firms that approval of new games is to be suspended. This was during a meeting at which their focus on profit was questioned.
Naspers slumped as much as 8.3% and Prosus 7.5% on the news.
The news was another blow for Tencent, which gets about 31% of its revenue from gaming, after it was hit in 2018 when authorities demanded action in tackling nearsightedness.
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