Naspers’ long view

Taking the long view isn’t always easy in volatile markets. But Naspers, the South African media group, has defied the uncertainty with a $1.9bn cash deal to buy Tradus, the UK-based dot-com survivor that runs eBay-like online auctions in Poland. With a heady price tag of about 30 times next year’s projected ebitda, investors sent Naspers’ shares reeling by 10%. That may be an overreaction partly fuelled by a lack of information – the company isn’t providing all the details until Wednesday – and...