Bob van Dijk steps down as Naspers and Prosus CEO; Ervin Tu to be interim chief executive

Outgoing chief Bob van Dijk of Naspers

Bob van Dijk, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Naspers and Prosus, will be stepping down from his position effective immediately (September 18), after nearly a decade with the investing giant, the company said. He will also be giving up his board seats at the companies.

The announcement comes just days after Prosus had already rejigged its top management. The Netherlands-based investor appointed Gautam Thakar as the CEO of edtech while Roger Rabalais was made the CEO of food delivery. The two divisions were earlier a single unit but were split after Larry Illg, the, chief of the combined division, said he was stepping down.

"The Naspers and Prosus boards and Bob van Dijk have mutually agreed that Bob will, effective September 18, 2023, step down from his position as CEO as well as his position on the boards of both companies," the company said on its website on September 18.

Bob van Dijk will, however, remain as a consultant to the group until September 30, 2024. He has been the CEO of Naspers since 2014 and of Prosus since its listing in 2019.

"The group’s strategic goals remain unchanged and it is on target to deliver on its commitments, including achieving consolidated ecommerce trading profit during the first half of FY25," the company's website said.

As Dijk departs, the Netherlands-based company said Ervin Tu will assume the role of interim chief executive of Naspers and Prosus.

“Prosus is operating with momentum. I am honored to assume the role and help shape the future of the Group. I couldn’t be more excited about the team around me and to get started,” Tu said.

This is yet another management rejig at the investing giant. Earlier this month, Prosus appointed Gautam Thakar, former CEO of OLX Autos, to head its edtech investments as part of an internal restructuring which has now split food delivery and edtech into distinct segments.

Thakar will be the CEO of edtech for Prosus, while Roger Rabalais, currently CFO (Chief Financial Officer) Food and COO (Chief Operating Officer) B2C (business-to-consumer), will take on the role of CEO food delivery, the Netherlands-based investor told its teams in an internal memo last week.

It was announced that Thakar and Rabalais would report directly to Bob van Dijk, CEO, Prosus but with the latest move, they are likely to be managed by Ervin Tu.

The roles of Thakar and Rabalais were altered because Larry Illg, who was serving as the CEO of the combined division (food delivery and edtech) since its inception said he would be stepping down. Similar to Bob van Dijk, the company had said Larry Illg will remain an advisor to the board.

India is an important market for Prosus which has invested about $6 billion in the country till date. It also has two decacorns in its portfolio here --Byju's and Swiggy-- in the edtech and food delivery segments. Swiggy is also preparing for a public market listing sometime next year.

Prosus’ stake in Indian unicorns

Prosus also holds a significant stake in upskilling edtech unicorn Eruditus, which is the midst of a fundraise as reported by Moneycontrol earlier. It is also an investor in other unicorns like The Good Glamm Group, Urban Company (UC), Mensa Brands, PharmEasy and several others across sectors.

Over the past one-and-a-half years, Prosus has been focusing all its resources in PayU to lead its fintech investment in general and India in particular.

After the global funding squeeze in the last couple of years, Prosus said it would not to go through with the $4.7 billion acquisition of payment gateway firm Billdesk as planned, which in hindsight seemed expensive when it first signed an agreement in 2021.

Early last month, Prosus decided to sell most of the PayU's international assets for $610 million and focus its fintech ambitions in India. PayU is now looking to go for an IPO next year at a valuation of $6 billion and had reported revenue of $400 million in FY23.

The Indian entity has multiple subsidiaries running merchant lending, consumer lending and payment authentication platforms.