Koos Bekker's Billions

by T.J. Strydom

Koos Bekker has amassed one of the largest fortunes ever by a South African. Just how did he do it?



Under Bekker, Naspers made several bad investments, a few mediocre ones, a few good ones … and one that shot the lights out. A modest bet on Chinese technology startup Tencent changed Bekker’s destiny. Was this genius, strategy or just plain old good luck?



In Koos Bekker’s Billions, T.J. Strydom delves into Bekker’s life, career and business decisions. He identifies 15 winning strategies, each calculated and effective, that catapulted a Heidelberg boerseun into unfathomable wealth. This is a fascinating look into the life of a very private billionaire.



T.J. Strydom is a business author and journalist. He has written and reported for Reuters, the Sunday Times, Financial Mail and Beeld. His unauthorised biography of Christo Wiese scaled the bestseller lists in both English and Afrikaans. Koos Bekker’s Billions is his second non-fiction title

Genres: Business

242 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 1, 2022

Reviews

[Ed Stoddard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A highly readable and insightful narrative focused on the billions of dollars made by South African tycoon Koos Bekker. Stay tuned for a proper review in Business Maverick and full disclosure, TJ and I are former colleagues and know each other personally ...

[Lwazi Bangani · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suspect this book could have been a better read had the author received the buy-in from Koos Bekker.

There was definitely a lot of value lost in gathering the facts of Koos’ life from archives. However, TJ does make a great and compelling effort in stitching together details of the mysterious South African $ billionaire.

About the book: it reads more like a tale of two cities, it is centred mainly around Naspers and how Tencent made it a fortune. There are some nuggets sprinkled around of Koos’ earlier life, the foundation of Multichoice and birth of MTN. Otherwise, if you are a keen follower of the JSE and Naspers respectively, much of what is written in this book will not come as a surprise to you.

Ultimately, this was a good book, that will also take you through South African history from a rather different than usual perspective.

[Christoph Oellermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, would have been so much cooler if Bekker agreed to work with the author.

[Khanya Cakata · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spoiler alert: The last line of this book is an apt revelation of where Koos’ and indeed much of most Afrikaaner males wealth, born between 1900 -1970, comes from : “I think there is always an element of luck and circumstance.”

This book is insightful only in as much as it pieces together in one place the story of how Koos Bekker founded MNET and eventually ascended to becoming the CEO of Naspers, which would emerge as the biggest company (by far) to evolve from South Africa.

The luck? Throwing a dart at China and stumbling onto Tencent. The circumstance? Coming of age at a time of great opportunity if you happened to be a white South African with education and means at the end of apartheid.

It is a useful book to add to your library if you have an interest in broad South African business history. What I learnt most is that most of these “success” stories, though there is some hard work involved, come about largely due to where you are, who you know and when you happened to be born.

[Farai Gorden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its a good book to have in your library as it simplifies some of what Koos has done to get to where he is now. There is nothing new that TJ writes if you have been a follower of business in South Africa but nonetheless he writes it so well that it makes this a good read. As stated by others before, it could have been better had Koos participated in authoring the book.

[Ansie Sevenster · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was done without Koos Bekker’s assistance, but it seems well researched. It can get a bit confounding with all the business dealings, but all in all it gives interesting information about an interesting, private man.

[Reitz Krige · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book gives a deeper insight into the dealings of Koos Bekker and Naspers. Thoroughly researched. The writing style is fun and engaging. Great read.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

Amazing from start to finish. I could not put the book down. A true genius but also exceptionally lucky. As is anyone who has made it big.

[Sagren Naidoo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written, stories are conflated and repeated.