, Columnist
Rocket Internet's Spectacular Display
Oliver Samwer should wow investors with a grand buyback.
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It's time to give Rocket Internet SE a little credit. Twice this year chief executive Oliver Samwer has negotiated sales of stakes in the German company's startups that have realized solid gains.
On Thursday, Rocket announced the sale of half its shares in Delivery Hero AG to Naspers Limited for 660 million euros ($777 million), leaving it with about 13 percent of the European food delivery company. The divestment means that Rocket has so far earned about 2.6 times its invested capital in Delivery Hero, whose shares have risen by roughly 30 percent since it went public in June. It didn't seem to matter that Rocket had no board seat and very little influence over the company.