Naspers acquires 30% in leading Russian internet company
South Africa, 23 January 2007 – Naspers Limited (JSE: NPN, NASDAQ: NPSN), today
announced that it has acquired a 30% minority stake in Russian internet company Mail.ru for a
consideration of US$165 million. The shares have been acquired from Digital Sky Technologies
and Tiger Global Management, who remain shareholders of the company.
Mail.ru is a leading provider of internet and communication services to the global Russian-
speaking community, estimated to be approximately 300 million people. Ranked as the number
one email service for Russian speaking users, it markets and provides a wide range of
communication services. At present Mail.ru has some 24 million unique monthly visitors, and
about two billion monthly page views.
Russia has shown good economic growth over the past few years, at a GDP expansion of more
than 6% annually.
Commenting on the acquisition, Naspers global internet CEO, Antonie Roux said, “We are
impressed with Mail.ru’s excellent management team. What we have found particularly striking is
the superb quality of software engineers the Russian education system provides.”
Mail.ru CEO, Dmitry Grishin, said, “We are delighted to have Naspers as our partner. They bring
experience of various technologies in about 50 countries. We look forward to working with such a
globally diversified group.”
23 January 2007
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Contact details:
Beverley Branford
Naspers Investor Relations
+27 21 406 4824
+27 83 500 8012
bbranford@naspers.com
Important legal information:
This press release contains forward-looking statements. While these forward-looking statements
represent our judgements and future expectations, a number of risks, uncertainties and other
important factors could cause actual developments and results to differ materially from our