Coding Whiz Kid Behind PUBG Plans IPO That Could Be South Korea’s Biggest



[ad_1]

Former coding prodigy PUBG Creator plans multibillion-dollar IPO

Kim Chang-han was the original idea for PlayerUnknowns Battlegrounds, or PUBG, in 2017.

Kim Chang-han, a former computer prodigy who won national coding competitions in South Korea in the 1980s, had hit an all-time low. It was 2014 and he had just laid off a third of the employees at his gaming startup. Since 2000, he’s created three multiplayer online games at three startups that have all fallen flat.

“It was the darkest time of my life,” recalls Kim, 46. The following year, he sold his business to the company now known as Krafton Inc., which he joined as an executive producer.

Then his fortune started to change. As a last attempt to succeed in the business, he decided to create what is known as a battle royale game, an online game where players compete against each other in an increasingly small battlefield for be the last person standing. “Every fiber of my being told me to play this game,” he said.

Kim persuaded Irishman Brendan Greene to join the company and move to South Korea as the game’s creative director.

Bluehole Inc., as Krafton was called at the time, released PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, or PUBG, in 2017. It has become one of the most successful games of all time, with both PC and console versions selling for more. 70 million copies and the mobile version downloaded about 600 million times, according to Krafton.

Now, the company is planning an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in mid to late 2021, which could be South Korea’s largest in years. Selling shares could bring in billions of dollars, Kim, who became CEO of Krafton last year, said in an interview in Seoul, declining to give further details.

The IPO could value the start-up at 30 trillion won ($ 27.2 billion), according to a Jan. 5 report from Eugene Investment & Securities Co.

c28qeqlg

South Korea is expected to raise a record $ 10.9 billion, thanks to more than 120 IPOs this year, according to the brokerage. KakaoBank Corp., the largest Internet-only lender, and the battery unit of LG Chem Ltd. are expected to achieve initial stock sales in 2021, according to the report. The surge in IPOs comes after South Korea’s benchmark stock index has gained 34 percent in the past 12 months, one of the best performances in the world.

The nation’s largest IPO was the $ 4.3 billion offer from Samsung Life Insurance Co. in 2010. It was followed by the $ 2.4 billion listing from Netmarble Corp., a company based in Seoul in 2017.

uau41m9o

Krafton, whose name represents a commitment to craftsmanship, operates four game studios, but PUBG accounts for the vast majority of its sales and profits, according to Kim. It generated more than $ 1.1 billion in revenue in the nine months ended September, according to a company file.

Some people are concerned about whether the company is a “one-time wonder,” said Han Kim, general partner and co-founder of Altos Ventures Management Inc., which owns shares in Krafton. “I think the most important thing is how the company can use PUBG’s intellectual property and how they can make it into an even bigger franchise.”

Kim Krafton said the company is in the process of creating an animated show that will be uploaded to streaming services and a web comic. He will end up making films and dramas, he said. The company is open to acquisitions in these areas, Kim said.

Newsbeep

Krafton founder Chang Byung-gyu is the largest shareholder with a 17% stake as of September 30, followed by Tencent Holdings Ltd., which owns 16% through a subsidiary, according to a Krafton filing. Kim has 1.5 percent.

Kim won a personal computer competition organized by the South Korean Ministry of Science in 1985 at the age of 10 and has won several other national coding awards. He co-founded Ginno Games in 2009 after being involved with two other startups, and was “very frustrated” when his game failed.

But it’s all behind Kim now as Krafton prepares to go public. He said he was determined to expand the company’s game repertoire beyond its initial success. The company plans to release a new Battle Royale mobile title this year that will be based on PUBG, another PUBG-related PC and console game by next year, and a 2022 survival horror game that will represent the universe. PUBG three centuries in the future.

“We won’t be left as a one-time wonder,” Kim said.

(Except for the title, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)

[ad_2]

Source link