The growth potential of the businesses owned by SA-based media group Naspers in eastern Europe received a nasty blow with the announcement yesterday that the Springer Verlag, Germany’s biggest media group, and Ringier, Switzerland’s biggest media group, have joined forces to grow their market share in eastern Europe. [Read on]

Today is a big day for eBay (and South Africa’s media group Naspers) in Europe.

A German court will rule in a case, which could rob eBay in Germany (and other European countries) of lots of turnover, if the decision goes the wrong way. [Read on]

MIH Internet Europe, the online division of South African media company Naspers, has bought the Hungarian online auction site TeszVesz from Finnish publishing giant Sanoma, the website of business daily Napi Gazdasag reported earlier this week. Last year MIH bought auction platform Vatera.hu.

With this second acquisition, MIH now holds about 90% of Hungary’s online auctions market. 

I’ll add info as I get it.

Lai Kok Fung, CEO of Singapore-based mobile ad company Buzzcity in which MIH holds a 25% stake, had a few very interesting things to say about his business and how it benefits from the MIH investment. This aticle gives some insight into the question sometimes asked by analysts – what does MIH (Naspers) bring to the party when it invests in companies like Nimbuzz, Buzzcity and Tradus (now part of MIH Internet Europe)? This article shows: Quite a lot.

Also read this article on Buzzcity.

Naspers got an unpleasant Christmas present in Norway this week: eBay launched a new auction platform (www.ebay.no), which will make an already crowded market for auction platforms in this Scandinavian country even more crowded. [Read on]

Ricardo.ch, the Swiss auction platform owned by MIH Internet Europe, is advertising for an online marketing type to join its team in Zug, Switzerland. Advertisements also appeared on German job sites. 

Here is the ad as it appears on the Ricardo site. 

Only problem: The company says it’s looking for someone not older than 35. That’s a BIG no-no in German law. (Even bigger than when a SA firm would “forget” it was an “equal opportunity employer”…)

Jokes apart, should someone complain, Ricardo will be lucky to get away with a warning.

After telling me yesterday there will be no press statement on the departure of Christian Unger, CEO of MIH Internet Europe, and the appointment of Hein Pretorius as his successor, Naspers today released a statement. [Read on]

Only months after becoming CEO of Naspers subsidiary MIH Internet Europe Christian Unger has resigned and joined Switzerland’s biggest media house Ringier. With 50+ websites and operations in eastern Europe, Ringier is a Naspers competitor (although its focus is on print). [Read on]