Naspers’s Tencent stake now carries a formal US military flag
Naspers, the JSE-listed company behind News24 publisher Media24, holds most of its market value inside a single asset, a stake in Chinese technology group Tencent. In January 2025, the United States Department of Defense added Tencent to its list of Chinese Military Companies under Section 1260H of federal law, and confirmed that designation again in an expanded list published in June 2026. The listing does not restrict trading in Tencent shares, but it has, since 30 June 2026, barred the US Department of War from signing or renewing contracts with the company, and it puts a formal US national security classification on the asset that underpins a large part of Naspers’s value on the JSE.
HOW A CAPE TOWN NEWSPAPER GROUP ENDED UP HOLDING A CHINESE TECH GIANT
Naspers began in 1915 as a Cape Town newspaper publisher. In 2001, the company’s leadership made an investment that would come to define it. Naspers paid $32 million for a 46.5% stake in Tencent, then an unknown Shenzhen firm building instant messaging software.
That stake is now worth an estimated $135 billion, making it one of the most profitable single investments in corporate history.
In 2019, Naspers restructured its international holdings, including the Tencent stake, into a separate company listed on Euronext Amsterdam called Prosus. Naspers retains control of Prosus, holding approximately 57% of its capital and 74.6% of its voting rights. Prosus, in turn, now holds close to 24% of Tencent, down from a peak of roughly 31%, following a series of large share sales over the past several years, including one placement worth $14.6 billion. Naspers has described these sales as a way of unlocking shareholder value. Tencent remains Prosus’s single largest asset by a wide margin.
Naspers itself is listed on the JSE with a market capitalisation of approximately R608 billion, ranking it among the 10 most valuable companies on the exchange. Through the pension funds and unit trusts that hold Naspers and Prosus shares, a significant portion of South African retirement savings carries indirect exposure to Tencent.
THE PENTAGON DESIGNATION
On 7 January 2025, the US Department of Defense added Tencent to its annual list of Chinese Military Companies, published under Section 1260H of the National Defense Authorization Act. The list identifies companies the Pentagon assesses as linked to China’s military-civil fusion strategy, under which Beijing draws on private and civilian technology firms to support defence development.
Tencent’s Hong Kong-listed shares fell as much as 7% on the day the designation became public.
Tencent disputed the listing. A company spokesperson said Tencent is neither a Chinese military company nor a contributor to China’s military-industrial complex, and said the company would pursue reconsideration with the Department of Defense and, if necessary, legal action.
On 8 June 2026, the Pentagon published an updated version of the list, expanded to 188 entities. Tencent remained on it, alongside other major Chinese firms including Alibaba, Baidu and BYD. As of 30 June 2026, the US Department of War, the Pentagon’s current formal name, has been prohibited from entering into or renewing contracts with any company on the list, under Section 805 of the FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act. Indirect procurement restrictions are set to follow in June 2027.
WHAT THE DESIGNATION DOES NOT DO
The Section 1260H list is distinct from a sanctions list, and it does not, by itself, restrict US persons from buying or selling Tencent securities. That kind of restriction exists under a separate mechanism, a Treasury-administered list created under an executive order targeting the Chinese military-industrial complex. Tencent has stated it is not currently designated under that separate order.
In practice, the 1260H listing functions as a formal government-level flag rather than a legal barrier to investment. It closes off any future Pentagon contracting relationship with Tencent, and it raises the compliance and reputational considerations for any company doing business with it. Other companies previously added to the list, including Xiaomi, have successfully challenged their inclusion in US courts, so Tencent’s own reconsideration process and any legal challenge remain live questions.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR NASPERS, AND FOR NEWS24
Naspers has not publicly linked its Tencent share sales to the Pentagon designation, describing the sell-down instead as part of a strategy to return value to shareholders. Both explanations are not mutually exclusive, and Naspers has not addressed the question directly.
The designation also raises a disclosure question closer to home. Naspers, through Media24, owns News24, one of South Africa’s most widely read news platforms. The same group that manages South Africa’s financial exposure to a company now formally flagged by the United States government also controls a significant share of South African news coverage, including coverage of China, the United States and international affairs.
This does not, on its own, suggest any bias in News24’s reporting. It does raise a fair question about transparency, and whether South African readers and investors have been given a clear picture of what sits inside one of the country’s largest listed companies.
