Naspers Mulls Options for South Africa’s Historic ‘City Press’

This is less about one newspaper and more about a balance-sheet housekeeping exercise inside a media asset base that is probably being re-rated for optionality, not growth. If the title is sold, the likely winner is not the buyer’s P&L in year one but Media24’s management: it can simplify a structurally low-ROIC portfolio, reduce labor/print complexity, and force a cleaner valuation of digital assets. If the title is closed instead of sold, that signals the asset pool is thinner than the market assumes and that legacy print monetization is approaching a terminal phase rather than a slow decline.

Second-order, the main risk is not revenue foregone from one publication; it is signaling. A sale/closure would validate that adjacent print and magazine assets are next in the queue, which could pressure local ad pricing and accelerate reader churn toward platforms and free digital alternatives. The buyer universe is likely strategic or politically motivated rather than financial, which means execution risk is high and time-to-close likely measured in months, not weeks. Any failed process also increases the probability of a write-down narrative, which matters more for sentiment than absolute dollars.

The contrarian angle is that this may be mildly bullish for Naspers over a 6-12 month horizon if it reinforces a broader portfolio rationalization story. Investors often treat media shrinkage as value destruction, but in this case the market may reward a cleaner, less cluttered asset mix if it raises confidence around capital allocation and unlocks focus on the higher-quality digital and fintech exposures. The real downside would be if the process drags, becomes politicized, or triggers a broader question about governance discipline across the asset base.