In 1994, Kim Jung-ju founded Nexon, South Korea’s largest gaming juggernaut. He now owns NXC, Nexon’s holding company, and is putting up 98.64 per cent of the stocks up for sale, worth an estimated ten billion dollars.
Nexon made its name with wildly popular online games like Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds and KartRider. When it went public in 2011, the company raised $US1.2 ($2) billion, one of the biggest ever for a gaming company.
Website Hankyung (via tipster Sang) that Kim personally owns 64.49 per cent of the shares, while his wife, director Yoo Jung-hyun, owns another 29.43 per cent. Kim’s personal company, Wisekids, owns yet another 1.72 per cent.
Nexon, Nexon America and Nexon Europe are under the NXC umbrella as are other corporate entities including a pet food company.
A source tells website Hankyung, Kim is apparently tired after being worn down by increased regulations and a prolonged legal battle over alleged corruption. Kim was found innocent.
Korean game site Gamemeca connected NXC about the report, and the company issued the following comment (via Sang):
The reports about CEO Kim Jung-ju looking to sell his shares because of increasing regulations and mentioning about being tired from regulations is different from the truth. We are in the process of verifying the sales and it’s taking a bit of time because of issues with our official announcement.
Regardless of that fact, we are trying to make an announcement about this as soon as possible but it may be in the days that follow.
This is likely to be the biggest M&A in Korean history. The name that’s being tossed around as a possible suitor is China’s gaming giant Tencent.
Earlier this year, The Investor quoted Kim as saying, “I won’t be passing down Nexon to my kids.” He also promised to donate around $US100 ($144) million for charitable works, including helping young entrepreneurs and building hospitals for children.
Comments
3 responses to “South Korea’s Biggest Gaming Giant Is Suddenly Up For Sale”
Nexon is kind of the EA and Activision of the mmo market
Lietrally the most nickel and diming gacha game bullshit publisher of mmos, theyve ruined tons of perfectly good mmos by turning them into casinos, but the mmos underneath were always really good!
I hope nexon crashes and burns
And if it gets bought by tencent itll be even worse! I want my mmorpgs to be mmorpgs, not shiny slot machines and casinos
MapleStory was fun in the 2000s but the microtransactions got RIDICULOUS.