? Public Offering
South Korean gaming holding Krafton plans to go public on Korea Exchange Market (KRX) in mid-to-late 2021. The potential proceeds may reach several billions of dollars and bring the company’s valuation up to $27.2B as reported by Eugene Investment & Securities Co
The IPO could make Krafton one of the world’s most valuable gaming companies
The public offering will allow Krafton to expand in other entertainment sectors with its IP (e.g. movies, animated series) and portfolio diversification
Tencent is the 2nd largest shareholder in the company, owning a 16% stake
? Krafton’s M&As
In December 2020, Krafton merged with the publishing and support functions of PUBG Corporation, creating a new division PUBG Studio, which is now focused solely on the development
Around the same time, Two Krafton’s subsidiaries PNIX and Delusion Studio have consolidated into new mobile developer RisingWings
In November 2018, following Tencent’s large investment caused by PUBG success, Bluehole created Krafton as a video game holding company and became its subsidiary.
In June 2018, Bluehole acquired South Korea-based local mobile game developer Delusion Studio for an undisclosed sum
In March 2018, Bluehole acquired South Korea-based mobile game developer Red Sahara Studio for an undisclosed sum
Previously, Bluehole had acquired several other companies, including mobile game developer PNIX Games and PC&console focused developer Ginno Games (former PUBG Corporation; PUBG Studio in present)
? Products
Krafton is best known for its multi-platform battle royal game Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, which has been sold more than than 70m copies across PC&console and was downloaded over 600m times on the Mobile platform
The game was developed by PUBG Corporation (now PUBG Studio), which contributes the most to Krafton’s sales and profits, generating more than $1.1B for the nine months period ended September, 30
Krafton has two other studios under its wing:
Bluehole, a PC-focused developer behind TERA (The Exiled Realm of Arobea), a flagship MMORPG, which was one of the first MMOs to integrate non-targeting combat system
RisingWings, a mobile game developer with several successful products in its portfolio, including golf simulator Golf King and multiplayer bowling game Bowling King
