Kim Jae-young, co-founder of South Korean-based game developer Lionheart Studio.
By Lionheart Studio
KIm Jae-young, founder of South Korean web game developer Lionheart Studio, is a billionaire after earning $ 925 million from local web giant Kakao, becoming a billionaire. third most popular video game player in the country from last year to billionaire status. .
Kakao Games Europe, the European subsidiary of Kakao Games, bought a 30.37% stake in Lionheart for 1.2 trillion won ($ 925 million) at the end of June, putting the company in a position. or $ 3 billion. Most of the site was purchased from Kim, who currently owns 34.67% of Lionheart. Kim, who is the CEO and CEO of Lionheart, owns 2.87% of the game at Kakao Games, whose revenue has risen to high levels due to the Lionheart online game. Odin: Valhalla is going up. Huiia, Forbes he estimates his net worth at $ 1.7 billion.
Developed by Lionheart and published by Kakao Games, ʻOdin It was released in South Korea in June last year and is the top app store in the country. Kakao games are released ʻOdin in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan in March, and the team is preparing to launch the game in Japan in the second half of this year. ʻOdin has been downloaded over 1 million times on the Google Play Store, with 10,000 in the past month alone, according to app research Sensor Tower.
By the time ʻOdin released, the game increased Kakao Games’ mobile gaming revenue to a record high of 410.5 billion won ($ 315 million) in the third quarter last year, up 359% from the same period last year passed away. Lionheart, who gets all his money from ʻOdinreported 2021 revenues of 232.6 billion wins ($ 180 million) and losses of 150.7 billion wins, up from a loss of 25.4 billion wins last year.
By Lionheart Studio
Based in Seongnam, south of Seoul, Lionheart is preparing for its first public offering, according to the spokesperson. Local newspaper Maeil Business Newspaper Lionheart is estimated to be worth as much as 8 trillion won ($ 6 billion), according to estimates. Lionheart’s IPO is the largest by a South Korean company from billionaire Chang Byung-gyu’s Krafton, which raised $ 3.8 billion in August last year on the Korea Exchange.
Kim founded Lionheart in 2018 with investments from Kakao Games and game developer Wemade, a pioneer of blockchain-based games in South Korea. Kakao Games has steadily increased its stake in Lionheart over the years, owning 24.57% of the company. With its European arm, Kakao Games, is part of Kim Beom-su’s Kakao online business, which is largely owned by Lionheart. The other major shareholder is Wemade, which has a 4.23% stake after selling half of its Lionheart stake to Kakao Games.
“With the acquisition of the majority in Lionheart Studio, the founder of the hit title ʻOdinKakao Games will strengthen its ability to develop and sustain significant revenue growth, ”NH Investment & Securities analyst Jaemin Ahn said in a research paper.“ Kakao Games needs to have an opportunity to thrive. capture the global market with vigor. ”
Prior to Lionheart, Kim first founded another online gaming company, Action Square, in 2012, which was launched on the Korea Exchange through a specialty retailer in 2015. Previously, Kim, holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Seoul’s Hanyang University, He worked at Japanese video game maker Koei (now part of billionaire Yoichi and Keiko Erikawa’s Koei Tecmo) and Neowiz, one of the first network companies in South Korea, co -founded by Krafton’s Chang.
Last year, Chang and Wemade who founded Park Kwan-ho became billionaires in their own right. The other South Korean players on the third team are NCSoft’s Kim Taek-jin, Netmarble’s Bang Jun-hyuk, NHN Entertainment’s Lee Joon-ho, Pearl Abyss ’Kim Dae-il and Smilegate’s Kwon Hyuk-bin.
Kim Jung-ju, co-founder of Nexon, who created a free-to-play model where users can play games for free but pay for virtual and virtual content, is the South Korea’s football career until his sudden death in February at the age of 54.. His wife Yoo Jung-hyun, who helped start Nexon in 1994, started on Korea’s top 50 list this year with a net worth of $ 3 billion.
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