Damn! Denel lost out on another big arms contract! This time against Russia. The order was for 80 advanced anti-tank missile launchers and up to 800 missiles. [Read on]

The business world was full of praise for SA’s new president today. Saying things like “he’ll be good for the economy” and “he’ll maintain current policies” and “he’ll be excellent”. [Read on]

Mail.ru, the leading Russian website in which Naspers holds a 32% stake, got a new majority shareholder, the Russian daily Vedomosti reported yesterday. [Read on]

The wine estate Hermanuspietersfontein near…yes, Hermanus, has made it onto the British Airways Business Class wine list – with Afrikaans only wine labels! [Read on]

First published on my old blog on 23/7/2008. It’s about the recently-acquired Naspers internet company Tradus. I originally wrote this for a client in the US in April 2008. 

A few days after the final legal hurdles were cleared for the take-over of UK-based* Tradus Limited by South African media house Naspers, Tradus made a first acquisition. [Read on]

The international division of Mondi, the JSE- and LSE-listed paper company, may close its loss-making Holcombe Mill in Ramsbottom, UK. [Read on]

I came, I saw, I got rid of it.

The website of Tradus, the Swiss-based company bought by Naspers in March this year with auction platforms in 13 European countries, vanished from the airwaves recently. Internet users trying to access the Tradus portal, are redirected to Naspers.com, where the Tradus name is also “non-existent”.

[Read on]

So, they did not get it right, after all.

I refer to the debacle around Trevor Manuel leading to his convening a “hasty news conference in Washington” to say Zuma had asked him to stay on. [Read on]