Koos Bekker

Forbes "Rich List 2019" ranked Bekker as the 1002nd wealthiest person in the world, and the fourth wealthiest South African for 2019, with a fortune of US$2.3 billion.

After a few years in advertising, he received an MBA degree from Columbia Business School, graduating in 1984. As a result of a project paper, he, with a few young colleagues, founded one of the first two pay-television services outside of the US. M-Net and its sister companies, such as Multichoice, eventually expanded to 48 countries across Africa. In the 1990s, he was a founding director of mobile communication company MTN. In 1997 Bekker became CEO of Naspers, one of the initial investors in the M-Net/Multichoice group. Naspers bought out the other shareholders. During his tenure, the market capitalization of Naspers grew from about $1.2 billion to $45 billion. His compensation package was unusual in that for fifteen years as CEO he earned no salary, bonus or perks. He was compensated solely via stock option grants that vested over time.

Jacobus Petrus "Koos" Bekker (born 14 December 1952) is a South African billionaire businessman, and the chairman of media group Naspers. The company operates in 130 countries, is listed on the London and Johannesburg Stock Exchanges, and has the largest market capitalization of any media company outside the US and China.

Koos Bekker was born in Potchefstroom, South Africa on 14 December 1952. He attended Hoër Volkskool Heidelberg and completed degrees at Stellenbosch University, in law and literature, and at Wits University, in law. During his studies in Stellenbosch, he was a hostel boarder of Eendrag Manskoshuis.