Since 2008, I have had a mild obsession with a South African media company called Naspers. They are most known for being a very early investor in Tencent. In 2001, they bought a 46.5% stake for $32 million. 18 years later, it was worth $133 billion. It is likely one of the best investments of all time.
But success can be a double edged sword. This remarkable investment led to a meteoric rise of Naspers share price, but it also put them in a very complicated position. You can read all about it in my latest essay.
Björn
Things I’ve written
- The double edged sword of success: Understanding Naspers and their Tencent investment An essay about one of the world’s most interesting, underrated, and unknown media companies.
- We need sparks of insight and inspiration – Joan Ganz Cooney Center A guest blog post I wrote for the The Joan Ganz Cooney Center, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the report that started it all.
Three things to think about and enjoy
- Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, by David Epstein As a generalist myself, this spoke to me on many levels. As with most of these types of books you can get the gist of it in 10 minutes, but this one left me with loads of passages worth coming back to.
- BBC Discovery – Russell Foster Russell Foster is a professor of circadian neuroscience at Oxford University, and in this (quite old) interview he describes how clocks and light affect your daily life.
- NYTimes: Why Democrats Still Have to Appeal to the Center, but Republicans Don’t, by Ezra Klein A sober, intelligent, and thoughtful analysis on the asymmetries of current American politics.
Originally sent as a newsletter on February 19th, 2020. Read the original.
