Jacobus Petrus, popularly known as Koos Bekker, is a South African businessman and the chairman of media conglomerate Naspers, with a net worth of $2.3 billion as of April 2022.
Koos Bekker Earnings and Networth
The company functions in 130 countries and lists on the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges. Outside of the United States, China, and India, it has the highest market capitalization of any media company.
Full Name - Jacobus Petrus Koos Bekker
Date of Birth - 14 December 1952
Age - 68 Years
Profession - Businessman
Height - N/A
Nationality -South African
Source of wealth - Entrepreneur
Annual Salary
Net worth - $2.3 billion
Last updated - December 2022
Koos Bekker Biography and Early Life
Koos Bekker was born in 1952 in Potchefstroom, South Africa. He spent his childhood as a farm boy in Heidelberg, Gauteng Province, South Africa. Bekker attended Hor Volkskool Heidelberg in South Africa for his secondary education.
Following that, he received a BA in both Literature and in Law from Stellenbosch University in 1972 and 1975, respectively. He earned an LLB from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1978 and an MBA from Columbia Business Administration in 1984.
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Koos Bekker Career and Earnings
After a few years in advertising, he earned an MBA from Columbia Business School in 1984. He and some young colleagues established one of the first two pay-television services outside the United States as a result of a project paper.
M-Net and its sister companies, including Multichoice, eventually expanded to 48 African countries. He was a founding director of the mobile communication company MTN in the 1990s.
Bekker became CEO of Naspers, which is one of the early investors in the M-Net/Multichoice group, in 1997. Naspers purchased the remaining shareholders. During his tenure, Naspers' market capitalization increased from around $1.2 billion to $45 billion.
His compensation package was unusual because he received no salary, bonus, or perks as CEO for fifteen years. Instead, he was paid solely through stock option grants that vested over time.
Under Bekker's leadership, Naspers invested in pay television, mobile telephony, and various internet services. The company operates in Europe, Africa, Latin America, China, India, Russia, and several smaller countries.
Awards and Achievements
According to Forbes, Koos Bekker has amassed a sizable fan base over the years, giving him much-needed exposure domestically and abroad. He is also well-regarded in the South African music industry.
His popularity has led to daily endorsement deals and a barrage of awards.
- World Entrepreneur Awards, World Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame
- Ernst & Young/Rand Merchant Bank Award for Best Entrepreneur
- Business Times Lifetime Achievement Award
- The University of Stellenbosch, Honorary Doctorate in Commerce
- Member of the Board of Trustees, University of Stellenbosch, since 2000.
- 1008th-richest person worldwide according to Forbes' Rich List for 2021
- 4th-richest South African, according to Forbes, 2021, with a fortune of US$2.3 billion
- Forbes 2021 lists 11 billionaires from Africa.
