Naspers units like Takealot were trading at a discount .
Naspers’ fourth share split in its history is already showing positive momentum, with the stock up almost 4% over five days at its post-split price.
The company’s move is aimed at boosting liquidity, making it easier for more investors to buy and sell the shares.
“As from 6 October 2025, every Naspers shareholder will own five Naspers shares for every one he or she currently holds,” the lifestyle and e-commerce group explains in a recent advertorial.
This misleadingly drops the share price to 20% of its initial value. In reality, each investor’s combined stake remains worth the same because they now own five shares instead of one.
No fundamental value change
Peter Takaendesa, chief investment officer at Mergence Investment Managers, notes the Naspers stock split itself has no impact on the underlying value of the company and should not change its market valuation.
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Because Naspers has increased the number of shares by a factor of five, the share price quoted on the JSE should come down by the same factor of five. “The value of the underlying business is not affected by a stock split,” he explains.
Charts tracking Naspers’ shares have already accounted for the split as the shares have already, in theory split although settlement on the JSE will only happen on Monday.
These charts show Naspers’ stock being worth R1 279 each as of early this morning – or R6 395 pre-split – representing a 2.25% gain. Year-to-date, the shares are up 55.58% at the stock split value.
“The Naspers share price has gone up on a like-for-like basis post the stock split because Naspers’ stake in Prosus has been appreciating in value as the Prosus share price keeps going higher.
“Prosus is, in turn, following Tencent higher, driven by investor interest in the global technology sector,” Takaendesa explains.
The tech giant’s shares started trading at R17.50 when it first listed on the JSE in 1994, before increasing to R1 000, before hitting R3 000, and later R5 000 before reaching more than R6 000 ahead of the latest division.
Stock analysis web site MLQ.ai lists all Naspers share splits over time: July 2019, September 2019, September 2023, and the current October 2025 split.
Naspers, which has a strong presence across Latin America, India and Europe, was trading at R5 811 on 10 September, five days before announcing the five-for-one split.
Naspers owns the Takealot Group and other e-commerce and digital assets including OLX and Property24, in addition to 56.92% ownership of Prosus, which holds a substantial interest in Tencent.
This Tencent stake has been driving recent share price gains and has been a concern for investors because it discounts Naspers’ other operations.
In response, Naspers has been buying back shares to return value to shareholders, who will own a larger proportion of the company. So far, it has returned more than R100 billion to investors.
Stock splits make shares easier to trade, and buybacks give shareholders a bigger slice of the company, so together they provide both benefits. “The sharp increase in the share price started to exclude the average investor,” the company says in its advertorial.
From newspaper to tech titan
Founded in 1915 by attorney William Angus Hofmeyr as De Nasionale Pers (The National Press), the company was established to promote Afrikaner nationalism and initially focused on publishing for the Afrikaner community, with its first major newspaper being De Burger (later Die Burger).
In the 1980s, it began diversifying by launching M-Net. As it grew, it also acquired the iconic Drum magazine – a bastion of anti-apartheid investigative journalism.
Naspers spun out M-Net owner MultiChoice in 2019 when the pay-TV company listed on the JSE. French media giant Canal+ recently received all required approvals to buy MultiChoice for $30 billion at R125 a share.
