Koos Bekker

Source of wealth: Media, investments

73 years male Media & Entertainment 🇿🇦 ZA

Net Worth

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Earnings per second

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The scale of their wealth

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Health

The price of life

Let's compare Koos Bekker's fortune with the healthcare spending of a massive country

Koos Bekker could fund the entire healthcare system of DR Congo, with a population of over 105,800,000 people, for approximately 1.5 years.

But even if we compare their fortune with that of a rich country

On the other end, Koos Bekker could cover the healthcare spending of Luxembourg, considered the most heavily funded healthcare system in the world, for 0.7 years.

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Education

Buying the future

Let's also compare their fortune with education spending, first with a poor country

Koos Bekker could cover the total cost of Nigeria's education system, the most populous country in Africa with over 243,000,000 inhabitants, for 1.0 years.

And yes, we can also compare it with a rich country

But they couldn't just cover the cost of a poor country; Luxembourg is considered the country with the highest per capita investment in education in the world, and Koos Bekker could pay for it entirely for 1.4 years.

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Research

The monopoly on progress

Coming full circle, we think it's also interesting to add another gigantic country

Koos Bekker could fully fund the state research budget of Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in the world with over 260,000,000 inhabitants, for 5.8 years.

And of course, the country that invests the most per capita worldwide

But even if we compare the total wealth of Koos Bekker with Israel, the country that invests the most per capita in research in the world, they could cover the total cost of the system for 0.1 years.

While billions of people struggle to access basic healthcare, education, and research, a single individual could fund entire national systems for centuries.

Gold

Everyday luxuries

Koos Bekker's fortune is equivalent to 23 tons of gold. It's hard to process, since we don't usually keep a handful of gold bars in our piggy banks.

A standard gold ring usually weighs between 4 and 7 grams. Let's say this one weighs 5 grams. It's usually 18 karats.

Based on today's gold price (excluding the jeweler's commission, shipping, or anything else), that ring would be worth $546.86.

Koos Bekker could buy 6,255,169 gold rings. That's a lot of fingers and way too many gifts!!

And if you're struggling to visualize that many rings, it would take 1 trucks to transport them. Although Koos Bekker will almost certainly have enough money left over to pay for the gas.

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Biography

Koos Bekker is revered for transforming South African newspaper publisher Naspers into an e-commerce investor and cable TV powerhouse.

He led Naspers to pay a reported $34 million for a third of Chinese Internet firm Tencent Holdings in 2001--perhaps the greatest venture investment ever.

In 2019, Naspers put some assets into two publicly-traded companies, entertainment firm MultiChoice Group and Prosus, which contains the Tencent stake

Naspers has sold down its stake in Tencent over the years and today owns less than 25%.

Bekker, who retired as the CEO of Naspers in March 2014, returned as chairman in April 2015.