Naspers (NPSNY) Soars 2.17% as Tencent-Powered Earnings Rocket 59% - Tech Boom Fuels Gains

Another day, another legacy firm riding coattails of actual innovators.

Naspers Limited just reported a staggering 59% earnings surge—courtesy of its golden goose Tencent stake—sending shares up 2.17%. The market yawns at the irony: a traditional media conglomerate thriving solely through its early bet on Chinese tech.

Tencent's gaming and fintech dominance continues printing money for passive investors. Meanwhile, Naspers' core operations? About as exciting as a fax machine in a metaverse conference.

Wall Street cheers the numbers while quietly acknowledging this is peak 'dumb money' outperformance—proof that even blind squirrels find trillion-dollar acorns sometimes.

TLDRs:

• Naspers shares rose 2.17% after the company reported a 59.4% surge in core headline earnings for the year ending March 31.
• Tencent, in which Naspers still holds a 31% stake, remained the biggest contributor to the company’s profit growth.
• Naspers’ global e-commerce ventures turned a corner with improved profitability after years of investment and scale-building.
• The company’s evolution from a South African newspaper publisher to a global tech investor continues to deliver strong financial results.

Shares of Naspers Limited (OTC: NPSNY) rose 2.17% to $59.57 on Monday after the South African technology investor posted a remarkable 59.4% surge in full-year Core headline earnings.

The earnings momentum was driven by two key pillars,  a robust turnaround in its global e-commerce portfolio and the continued profitability of its stake in Chinese tech giant Tencent.

Naspers reported CORE headline earnings per share of 1,830 US cents for the fiscal year ending March 31, up from 1,148 cents the previous year. This result not only reaffirmed the strength of its long-held Tencent investment, but also signaled a turning point for the company’s e-commerce operations, which have historically sacrificed profits for scale.

Tencent Windfall Powers Strong Performance

At the heart of Naspers’ latest earnings triumph is its multi-decade investment in Tencent, which has matured into one of the most lucrative tech stakes in corporate history. Back in 2001, Naspers made a then-modest $32 million investment for a significant stake in Tencent. That investment has since ballooned to well over $140 billion in value, even after Naspers trimmed its position to 31%.

Despite these partial divestments, Tencent remains the financial backbone of the Naspers portfolio. Its steady growth and profitability continue to inject billions into Naspers’ balance sheet annually. This most recent earnings surge again highlights how central Tencent remains to the company’s bottom line, especially in years where other parts of its portfolio are transitioning to profitability.

E-commerce Turns the Corner

Equally significant in this year’s earnings is the long-awaited shift in e-commerce profitability. After years of pumping capital into online marketplaces, food delivery apps, fintech platforms, and educational tech ventures, Naspers is finally seeing financial returns. This marks a shift in strategy from aggressive growth-at-all-costs to a more balanced approach.

The company’s e-commerce investments include platforms like Swiggy, Urban Company, Ula, and Udemy, which operate in high-growth, digitally evolving markets such as India, Indonesia, and broader Southeast Asia. The improved performance of these businesses reflects both operational maturity and a wider consumer shift toward digital platforms in emerging markets.

Legacy to Tech Titan

Naspers’ recent financial milestones underscore one of the most remarkable corporate transformations of the digital age. What began as a newspaper publisher in Cape Town in 1915 is now a sprawling tech investor with stakes in over 80 companies across more than 100 countries. Its pivot began with television in the 1980s, accelerated with internet ventures in the 2000s, and solidified with the Tencent deal.

The company’s willingness to take long-term bets, especially in internet and mobile-driven markets, has helped it stay ahead of industry curves. The latest profit jump is less a fluke than the cumulative result of this decades-long reinvention.

Valuation Puzzle and Forward Outlook

Despite its earnings strength, Naspers continues to face a valuation conundrum. At times, the value of its Tencent holdings has exceeded its own market cap, creating structural inefficiencies. The company has responded with share buybacks and complex cross-holdings via Prosus, its Amsterdam-listed subsidiary, to close this discount. However, investors remain cautious about unlocking full shareholder value.

Looking ahead, with e-commerce finally turning profitable and Tencent continuing to deliver, Naspers appears well-positioned to navigate global market shifts. Its exposure to fast-growing digital economies provides natural tailwinds, especially as it diversifies further from its Tencent dependency.