Koos Bekker and the Multitude of Businesses That Made Him South Africa’s Richest Media Mogul

If you haven't Jacobus Petrus Bekker, more widely known as Koos Bekker, then you've definitely of the businesses he owns. The self-made billionaire made a name for himself in the entertainment industry and successfully captured South African eyeballs.

From MTN to M-Net and all the other businesses, Koos Bekker bet big and won and secured himself the 4th place spot on South Africa's short list of billionaire moneymakers.

Paying homage to South Africa's wealthiest business people, Briefly News unpacks Koos Bekker's successful career and the businesses that earned him his multi-billion rand empire.

Jacobus Petrus "Koos" Bekker wasn't born with a silver spoon

Jacobus Petrus "Koos" Bekker isn't the type of businessman that was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Bekker was born in Potchefstroom in the North West in 1952 and had humble beginnings growing up on a mealie farm.

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Described as clever to boot in the book Koos Bekker's Billions, a young Bekker worked hard in school. He attended Hoër Volkskool Heidelberg in his youth and later graduated from Stellenbosch University with a BA in Law degree and a BA Honours in Literature.

Bekker was introduced to the television business while working towards an LLB at the University of the Witwatersrand. The then-student would fill in as a translator, dubbing dramas and documentaries.

It wasn't long till the turbulence of apartheid pushed Bekker and his wife to leave the country for greener pastures in the early 1980s, Daily Maverick reported. But SA would always be home, and Bekker soon returned and began laying the groundwork for his empire.

1. Bekker returns from America to start pay-TV companies M-Net and Multichoice

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M-Net requires no introduction. South Africans have been thoroughly entertained by the TV service for years. But in 1986, Bekker returned home to found the company, which was the first of its kind in South Africa.

The concept for M-Net and its sister company, Multichoice, was born out of a student project paper that Bekker wrote with a few young colleagues while studying towards his MBA at Columbia University, Startup Mag reported.

Though M-net and Multichoice started as two humble pay television services in the late 1980s, it has expanded into broadcasting local and international programming in 48 countries across Africa.

2. Bekker corners the telecommunications market by founding MTN

The media mogul could have stopped at establishing the wildly successful MultiChoice and M-Net, but that wasn't enough for Bekker.

The businessman expanded into the telecommunications space to become one of the founding directors of mobile communications company MTN Group in 1994, BusinessLIVE reported.

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MTN is now one of Africa's most recognisable mobile service providers, with operations in over 20 African and Asian countries. As of December 2020, the telecommunications company had 280 million subscribers, making it the world's ninth-largest mobile network provider.

3. The billionaire takes SA's media landscape by storm at the helm of publishing giant Naspers

Koos Bekker is often celebrated for transforming South African publishing giant Naspers into an e-commerce investor and a leader in satellite TV.

When Bekker became the CEO in 1997, Naspers was mostly a newspaper publishing company, but under the billionaire's leadership, the business expanded into online shopping, the internet, and entertainment.

Some of the companies that Naspers owns include Media24, which is home to over 60 Newspapers that publish approximately 187 million copies each year. Naspers titles include City Press and the Daily Sun, South Africa's top-selling daily newspaper.

Media24 also owns several Magazines, online news sites, book publishers, logistics companies, lifestyle television channels and the online shopping site, Takealot.

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Cyril Ramaphosa, Tokyo Sexwale and 3 others are some of South Africa’s richest political leaders

In a similar story, Briefly News reported that being a politician is a side hustle for some of the country's leaders. Some have major bank accounts, with their net worth going well into the millions. Cyril Ramaphosa, Tokyo Sexwale, Saki Macozoma, Jacob Zuma, and Thabo Mbeki are among Mzansi's wealthiest politicians.

Briefly News looks at five of the country's leading men raking in serious cash.

1. Cyril Ramaphosa’s big bank balance

President Cyril Ramaphosa is known for being one of the country’s wealthiest people. He started as an anti-apartheid activist and labour leader before becoming a businessman.

Source: Briefly News