? Public Offering
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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
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The IPO could make Krafton one of the world’s most valuable gaming companies
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The public offering will allow Krafton to expand in other entertainment sectors with its IP (e.g. movies, animated series) and portfolio diversification
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Tencent is the 2nd largest shareholder in the company, owning a 16% stake
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? Krafton’s M&As
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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
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Around the same time, Two Krafton’s subsidiaries PNIX and Delusion Studio have consolidated into new mobile developer RisingWings
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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.
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In June 2018, Bluehole acquired South Korea-based local mobile game developer Delusion Studio for an undisclosed sum
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In March 2018, Bluehole acquired South Korea-based mobile game developer Red Sahara Studio for an undisclosed sum
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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
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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
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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
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Krafton has two other studios under its wing:
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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
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RisingWings, a mobile game developer with several successful products in its portfolio, including golf simulator Golf King and multiplayer bowling game Bowling King
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