Prosus, Naspers Tap iFood's Fabricio Bloisi as New Chief -- Update

By Christian Moess Laursen

Prosus and South African parent Naspers named Fabricio Bloisi as group chief executive, replacing interim boss Ervin Tu, who will become president and chief investment officer.

Bloisi is currently chief executive of iFood, a food-delivery company in Latin America, which he acquired in 2013, Dutch investment group Prosus said Friday.

"Fabricio is a proven entrepreneur and innovator with deep roots in operating, building and scaling world-class technology companies within growth markets," Prosus said.

Bloisi will be taking over in July from interim chief Tu, who has had the reins on an interim basis for the past eight months.

Prosus and Naspers Chair Koos Bekker said Tu will play an important role in shaping the group's future strategy, investments, and capital allocation in his new role.

Prosus, the top shareholder of Chinese tech giant Tencent with a 25.2% stake, according to FactSet, said its strategic goals remain unchanged.

It is still on track to meet its expectations for the year, including achieving consolidated ecommerce trading profit during the second half-year, and the continuation of its share buyback program, it said.

Tu became interim chief last September when then CEO Bob van Dijk stepped down after a near decadelong tenure that benefited and was complicated by the company's multibillion-dollar stake in Tencent.

Bekker, the company's former CEO, said on an investor call at the time that Van Dijk and the board had decided that it was a good time for a handover. "When you decide on a transition, it is best to execute that immediately," he said at the time.

The new management change comes as the 109-year-old company pushes to make its e-commerce businesses and investments profitable, and works to narrow a persistent gap between the value of its shares and its stake in Tencent.

In 2001 Naspers paid $34 million for its original one-third stake in Tencent. That was before Tencent's WeChat messaging app took off in China and the company grew to become the world's biggest videogame company by revenue. That stake, even after being reduced during Van Dijk's tenure, has for years been worth more than Naspers itself.

Write to Christian Moess Laursen at christian.moess@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 17, 2024 01:53 ET (05:53 GMT)

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