Alan Knott-Craig buys MXit, Naspers exits

Added by Editor on 22 September 2011.
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Alan Knott-Craig

Alan Knott-Craig’s investment vehicle, World of Avatar, has signed a binding agreement to acquire 90% of Stellenbosch-based instant messaging company MXit for an undisclosed amount, with 10% remaining in the hands of its staff via a trust, which was set up by founder Herman Heunis in 2005. The sale is subject to fulfilment of certain conditions.

MXit claims to have 43m registered users. Both current shareholders, MIH Holdings (a subsidiary of Naspers) and Herman Heunis have sold their entire shareholding in MXit.

The value of the deal has not been disclosed.

At the conclusion of the sale, MXit will be headed by Alan Knott-Craig, the founder of World of Avatar and son of the former Vodacom Group CEO of the same name.

Herman Heunis, MXit’s founder and CEO, will no longer be involved in the company and will take a six-month sabbatical before deciding on his plans for the future.

“Creating and building MXit has been an enormously interesting journey for me, and I have had a lot of fun, but it is time to inject new and young energy into the company, and I believe that Alan and his team will do a superb job,” says Herman Heunis.

Knott-Craig says: “In the short term, we want MXit to maintain and grow its position as the largest mobile social network in Africa. This means a focus on consolidating and strengthening the core of the business before we move to implement the long-term strategy.”  — Staff reporter, TechCentral

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  • Anonymous

    I’d like to congratulate Herman for the exit, I still look up to the guy. As far as this go i feel like Alan will be left holding the bag .Mxit is no longer popular ,its no longer cool to be on Mxit. More and More people are moving to BBM and Whatsapp ,in my mind Alan and Co just bought a sinking ship. Unless they come up with some form of re-branding strategy and push notification for Mxit,Mxit will be gone in 3 years time.

    Good Luck 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kino-Bearer-II/100002230331114 Kino Bearer II

    How much did they buy it for?

  • MrRaleie

    Gotta agree with @vmabuza:disqus  on this one, mxit doesn’t have much time left. I think it is surviving purely on the warm feeling of patriotism, but with the big players [read facebook] offering mobile IM, standalone IM’s have a bleak future.

  • http://www.qooh.me Vincent Mabuza

    Rumour has it R500 mill

  • Vincent Mabuza

    I really want to see how they are going to bounce back. Whatever they do though they have to make sure they change the name Mxit or offer something with a new name on the side, because the name Mxit is tainted already.

  • http://twitter.com/richardjwalton Richard John Walton

    Its all about the users guys, all the tech behind it is immaterial really. 
    I’m sure Knott-Craig Jnr has an ace up his sleave, he’s not stupid, he wouldn’t buy something that he didn’t think could be worth a lot more.
    What that space, I’m sure he going to do something cool with it!

  • Vincent Mabuza

    Its not just about the users , Its about what’s hot and what not ,what’s in what’s out-when it comes to social apps/networks. 

    Myspace had users when Rupert Murdoch bought it, what happened after that? Bebo had users when AOL bought them,how much did AOL loose after that? . Alan is gambling here . A person who knows the Social apps game well ,wont bet on him winning though.

  • MrRaleie

    I would actually think it is actually about  the tech, kinda like why microsoft bought skype. The users mean nothing (most especially with mxit having made the news for all the wrong reasons lately), they are quickly having better experiences at other IM’s.
    With that said, I’m now curious to see what mxit will be repackaged with/as.

  • Stanley Miller

     
    You guys are going on about this the wrong way. I don’t think someone who knows IM’s so well would buy for such a big price if he knew that there was no way to turn things around ? Of course he has a plan up hes sleeve regardless how long it will take.. whether its rewriting the whole thing or improving PR, its still the same. Another mistake you guys are subject to is assumptions.. You automatically assume that MXit’s goal is to be the hottest thing out there, news flash guys.. assumptions are mostly wrong, three years.. (based on  Vincent Mabuza’s absurd assumption) is a lot of time to revamp MXit. Thats if it needs revamping. Minor changes can blow your assumptions right out of the water. Thats exactly what will happen. 

  • http://twitter.com/rrejustin Justin Goldblatt

    Case in point guys…who still uses MySpace? if Naspers bails then I guess the writing is on the wall… or the cheque was very appealing.

    By the way what is MXit?

  • Stanley Miller

    MXit is an IM program that is designed to run on almost every platform of mobile os’s and it offers communicating to your friends at a very cheap cost, another thing they forgot is that MXit has the power of chatrooms. One thing facebook, Myspace, BBM, and every other competitor will not be able to achieve, sometimes people are tired of talking to the same people everyday. MXit chatrooms help with that by letting an individual make new friends in a safe manner.

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