Prosus, Naspers Tap iFood's Fabricio Bloisi as New Chief — Update
By Christian Moess Laursen
Prosus and South African parent Naspers named Fabricio Bloisi as group chief executive, replacing interim boss Ervin Tu, who will become president and chief investment officer.
Bloisi is currently chief executive of iFood, a food-delivery company in Latin America, which he acquired in 2013, Dutch investment group Prosus said Friday.
"Fabricio is a proven entrepreneur and innovator with deep roots in operating, building and scaling world-class technology companies within growth markets," Prosus said.
Bloisi will be taking over in July from interim chief Tu, who has had the reins on an interim basis for the past eight months.
Prosus and Naspers Chair Koos Bekker said Tu will play an important role in shaping the group's future strategy, investments, and capital allocation in his new role.
Prosus, the top shareholder of Chinese tech giant Tencent with a 25.2% stake, according to FactSet, said its strategic goals remain unchanged.
It is still on track to meet its expectations for the year, including achieving consolidated ecommerce trading profit during the second half-year, and the continuation of its share buyback program, it said.
Tu became interim chief last September when then CEO Bob van Dijk stepped down after a near decadelong tenure that benefited and was complicated by the company's multibillion-dollar stake in Tencent.
Bekker, the company's former CEO, said on an investor call at the time that Van Dijk and the board had decided that it was a good time for a handover. "When you decide on a transition, it is best to execute that immediately," he said at the time.
The new management change comes as the 109-year-old company pushes to make its e-commerce businesses and investments profitable, and works to narrow a persistent gap between the value of its shares and its stake in Tencent.
In 2001 Naspers paid $34 million for its original one-third stake in Tencent. That was before Tencent's WeChat messaging app took off in China and the company grew to become the world's biggest videogame company by revenue. That stake, even after being reduced during Van Dijk's tenure, has for years been worth more than Naspers itself.
Write to Christian Moess Laursen at christian.moess@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 17, 2024 02:08 ET (06:08 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.-
Markets Brief: Friday’s Job Report in Focus
-
These Stocks Are (Still) Powering the Bull Market
-
5 Undervalued Energy Stocks to Play the AI Data Center Demand Boom
-
After Earnings, Is Lowe’s Stock a Buy, Sell, or Fairly Valued?
-
5 Stocks With the Largest Fair Value Estimate Cuts After Q1 Earnings
-
10 Stocks With the Largest Fair Value Estimate Increases After Q1 Earnings
-
Markets Brief: Inflation Back in the Spotlight
-
AI Is Booming, but Consumer Spending Is Slowing. Which Will Prevail in the Stock Market?
-
3 Dividend Stocks for June 2024
-
After Earnings, Is Alibaba Stock a Buy, Sell, or Fairly Valued?
-
MongoDB Earnings: Slashing Valuation as Execution and Macro to Blame for Lower Guidance
-
Marvell Earnings: We Raise Our Medium-Term AI Forecast and Bring Our Valuation Up to $75
-
Zscaler Earnings: Impressive Traction in Emerging Products Drives Sales Growth for the Quarter
-
Dell Earnings: Raising Valuation on Strong AI, but the Stock Remains Severely Overvalued
-
After Earnings, Is Nvidia Stock a Buy, Sell, or Fairly Valued?
-
The 10 Best Companies to Invest in Now