Naspers' failed "closing discount" strategy hits fresh nadir - Piet Viljoen wades in

Two years after Naspers management began implementing an explicit "closing discount to NAV" strategy, the consequence has been the precise opposite of what was intended. Counterpoint's Piet Viljoen points out the stock's discount to its see-through asset value is now at an all-time high of 62%. Naspers accounts for a sizeable chunk of the JSE indices, so failure of this deliberate strategy has cost South African savers dearly. Bills for the company's expensive creation of offshore holding company Prosus, coupled with a massive share buyback programme at much higher levels than the current share price, run into hundreds of millions of dollars. Viljoen expressed his concerns in a tweet this morning. In this podcast, BizNews editor Alec Hogg asked him to why he felt strongly enough to express his criticism so publicly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices