By Loni Prinsloo.
Prosus NV reached a multi-year cloud and artificial-intelligence deal with an Amazon.com unit that will consolidate contracts in these spheres, resulting in double-digit cost savings.
The three-year pact with Amazon Web Services runs into “hundreds of millions of dollars,” Head of Prosus Ecosystem Igor Cardoso said in an interview, declining to disclose the exact value of the deal.
Under Chief Executive Officer Fabricio Bloisi, the group is reorganising itself to focus on Europe, India and Latin America, developing AI capabilities to fast-track and scale its businesses in the three regions to double its value by 2028.
“The strategy is to roll out our large commerce model across Latin America,” where it has Brazilian food delivery and logistics operator iFood, travel business Despegar, and online classifieds firm OLX, said Cardoso. “Then we plan to also do this in Europe and then in India in time.”
While the businesses aren’t able to share data across regions, standardising the models makes it easier and faster to build them in new jurisdictions, said Cardoso.
Prosus has a team of about 1 000 AI specialists who will work with their counterparts at Amazon to co-create applications, Cardoso said, adding that the group is investing about $100 million annually in AI talent and infrastructure.
“In the past 18 to 24 months, we’ve built & deployed agents across our businesses,” Cardoso said. We are now building and investing in life assistants to support these businesses.”
Cape Town-based Naspers, which built its fortune through an early investment in Chinese giant Tencent Holdings, spun Prosus off in 2019 as part of the South African company’s plan to focus on its internet businesses.
Naspers bought a 46% stake in Tencent in 2001 for $32 million, and its remaining 23% holding in the WeChat parent is worth close to $156 billion now.
Bloisi is working to increase the profitability and scale of the rest of Prosus’ businesses through deals including the purchase of European food-delivery business JustEat Takeaway.com for about $4.6 billion and Argentina-based Despegar for $1.7 billion.
As part of the Amazon deal, Prosus will also use its partner’s infrastructure and data centers in various regions, Cardoso said.