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Koos Bekker

Media and technology executive

By South African Index Editorial Desk · Published

Portrait of Koos Bekker.
Photograph: SoundCloud / Fin24 · Source · Copyright retained by source publication. Resized and converted to WebP for this site.

Koos Bekker led the founding team of M-Net/MultiChoice in 1985 and later served as Naspers chief executive from 1997 to 2014, directing its transition towards internet investment. He did not found Naspers, which was established in 1915. [1][2]

Biography

Naspers records that Bekker led the founding team of the M-Net/MultiChoice pay-television business in 1985 and subsequently led its international expansion. [1]

He became chief executive of Naspers in 1997. The group credits him with heading its transition to the internet until 2014. [1]

Naspers itself was established in 1915. Bekker’s relationship to the company is therefore that of transformative executive and company builder, not founder of Naspers. [2][1]

Key contributions

Led the founding team of M-Net/MultiChoice and its international expansion. [1]

Directed Naspers’s transition towards global internet investment as chief executive. [1][2]

Career timeline

  1. Led the founding team of M-Net/MultiChoice. [1]

  2. Became chief executive of Naspers. [1]

  3. Ended his tenure as Naspers chief executive. [1]

Associated organisations

Sources

  1. Naspers, Annual Report 2021: Board biography of Koos Bekker, 2021-03-31. Original source. Accessed 2026-09-25. ↩
  2. Naspers, Group structure. Original source. Accessed 2026-09-25. ↩