Prosus chief Fabricio Bloisi has acquired R500m worth of the group’s share since stepping into the CEO’s office last year, an apparent sign of the confidence the technology boss has in his company’s future and growth prospects.
Bloisi bought more than R400m worth of stock in the past week across two tranches. The first, on July 11, saw him buying 395,000 shares in the Amsterdam-listed company at an average price of €48.28, which translates to about €19.07m (R396.4m) on the open market. The second, on July 14, saw 19,900 shares bought at an average price of €48.39, or €962,961 in total.
This adds to 127,335 shares bought in August 2024 at an average price of €31.71, €4.037m total.
Overall, Bloisi has purchased €24.07m, about R500.34m, in Prosus stock during his first year as head of the JSE’s largest technology group.
Generally, a CEO buying stock in the company they oversee or operate is considered a strong vote of confidence. It signals that the person with the most in-depth knowledge of the company believes its stock is undervalued and expects it to perform well in the future.
Bloisi’s predecessor, Bob van Dijk, did something similar in early 2022 when he bought $10m (about R155m at the time) worth of Prosus shares.
Bloisi was previously the CEO of Prosus’ Latin American food delivery business, iFood. He had acquired iFood in 2013 when it was a 20-person start-up, and has since grown it — rapidly and profitably — to become Brazil’s leading food delivery company.
iFood has since become a star in the Naspers’ portfolio as it works to unlock the value trapped in its portfolio outside Tencent, the biggest component in its more than R3-trillion combined valuation.
Prosus took full control of iFood for €1.5bn in 2022.
This comes a few weeks after Naspers reported headline earnings per share (HEPS) for continuing operations of 1,529 US cents for the year to end-March from 792c a year ago.
Revenue rose to $7.18bn from $6.43bn before. It reported an operating profit of $124m after a loss of $562m a year ago.
Prosus reported HEPS for continuing operations of 258c from 132c a year ago.
The group’s board recommended a dividend of 20 euro cents per share — double that of a year ago.
Naspers said the past financial year was an active period in its investment portfolio and it invested, or committed, $7bn to support the ecosystems’ growth, profitability and value.
It announced two major acquisitions, both funded from available cash resources. It acquired Despegar, Latin America’s leading online travel agency for $1.7bn.
As part of the incentive to grow the group’s non-Tencent portfolio, Bloisi is eligible for a super incentive as part of his contract. This potential “moonshot award”, is meant to be granted if “truly extraordinary net new value is created in the market capitalisation of the group”. If achieved, this award could be worth as much as $100m in Prosus and Naspers shares, granted in July 2029.
The group recognises that, while in the realm of possibility, the conditions are ambitious. The group’s market capitalisation would have to reach $168bn by June 30 2028, among other things.
Prosus shares have gained 37.37% so far in 2025, with the group worth €117.49bn, or $136.35bn.
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