NEWS BRIEFS

Naspers boosting Takealot investment

TECHCENTRAL

Naspers, Africa’s largest company by market value, is boosting investment into Takealot Group ahead of Amazon.com’s entry into the country’s fast-growing e-commerce market.

“We are investing a lot more into our businesses,” Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, CEO of Naspers’s South African unit, said in an interview on Wednesday. “We are well positioned towards being able to deal with whatever could be coming from Amazon.”

South Africa is the continent’s most developed economy and has a youthful population, together with one of the largest upper-middle-income markets in the region. It’s potential is drawing increasing attention from retail giants like Walmart and Amazon, which will roll out online marketplace operations this year.



Tencent’s regulatory woes are piling up

BLOOMBERG

A raft of proposed new Chinese gaming curbs has wiped out US$32-billion from Tencent Holdings’ stock. The declines may not be over, looking at moves in the options market.

In a bearish sign, put options open interest has been rising relative to call options on the shares of China’s most valuable firm and its smaller rival NetEase since Beijing unveiled plans for a new round of restrictions on 22 December. The volatility skew shows investors have sharply pared their bullish positions on Tencent’s stock as they await the end of a consultation on the guidelines on 22 January.

The draft rules are reviving memories of the harsh crackdown in 2021, and testing Tencent bulls who have navigated two years of turbulence in the stock. Investors are hedging bets even after Beijing softened its tone, pledging to review controversial mandates, approving a slew of new games and reportedly firing an important sector regulator.



X announces new online video shows

BLOOMBERG

X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, announced a slate of new video shows, including a partnership with former CNN anchor Don Lemon.

Lemon will host a 30-minute show on X called “The Don Lemon Show,” airing three times a week “exclusively first” on the platform.

X will also distribute new shows from Jim Rome, the sports radio commentator and former ESPN star, and Tulsi Gabbard, a former US representative and presidential candidate.

Rome’s show will “stream exclusively on X, five days a week,” the company posted. Gabbard will distribute “an exclusive series of documentary style videos,” the company wrote.

San Francisco-based X didn’t share financial details. The partnerships are aimed at adding legitimacy to X’s renewed push into video, which has been a focus of owner Elon Musk.



Global unemployment seen rising modestly in 2024

REUTERS

The global unemployment rate is expected to inch up to 5.2% this year primarily because of a rise in joblessness in advanced economies, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Wednesday.

ILO's 2024 World Employment and Social Outlook report forecasts the number of unemployed people will rise by 2 million, lifting the global unemployment rate to 5.2% from 5.1% in 2023.

"We are projecting a modest fall in performance on labour markets, in part because growth is decelerating around the world," said Richard Samans, director of ILO's research department.

ILO, a United Nations agency, said that after a short growth spurt as countries recovered from the pandemic, aggregate labour productivity growth had quickly returned to the low pace seen over the previous decade.