Recently, NXC, the holding parent company of South Korea's largest game company Nexon, released a statement that Nexon founder Kim Jung-ju died in Hawaii on February 28, at the age of 54.
South Korean media claim that Kim Jong-joo has been treated for depression for some time.
According to Forbes' 2021 Korea Rich List, Kim Jong-joo's total wealth before his death reached $10.9 billion, ranking third in South Korea.
Kim Jong-joo Image source: Pear video screenshot
Kim Jong-joo and his partners founded NEXON in 1994 and became one of the leading game companies in South Korea and Asia. Nexon's games are household names, including "Run Kart", "Dungeons & Dragons", "Rocky Heroes", "Bubble Hall", "Adventure Island", "God's Realm", "Counter-Strike Online" and other well-known online games from this Korean company.
According to South Korean media reports, Kim Jong-joo left behind his wife and two teenage daughters. According to Forbes' 2021 Korea Rich List, Kim Jong-joo's total wealth before his death reached $10.9 billion, ranking third in South Korea.
According to Forbes, Kim founded Nexon in 1994 and developed it into one of Asia's top game companies. Nexon developed the first MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) in 1996, Kingdom of the Winds.
Subsequently, Nexon acquired Widget, which produced Adventure Island, and Neopople, which developed Dungeons & Dragons, and turned the two companies into subsidiaries of Nexon. Through multiple mergers and acquisitions, Nexon has gradually grown into a Korean game giant.
One of Nexon's most famous games is Island of Adventure, launched in 2003, with over 180 million registered users worldwide and currently operated domestically by The Fun Games Agency. Adventure Island pioneered a free-to-play mode in which users can play for free, but pay for virtual items.
In addition, Nexon's well-known game IP also includes Dungeon & Dragons, Bubble Hall, Run Kart, Rocky, Counter-Strike Online and so on. Nexon currently has more than 40 games that sell well in 190 countries.
Nexon currently releases the game, source: Nexon official website
Previously, Nexon disclosed its financial results for the fiscal year 2021 ended December 31, 2021, as well as Q4 2021. In fiscal 2021, Nexon achieved revenue of 274,462 million yen, down 6.3% year-on-year; net profit attributable to the mother was 114,888 million yen (approximately 6,289 million yuan), an increase of 104.4% year-on-year.
By region, the Korean market is still the main source of performance, but regional profits including South Korea, China, and Japan are declining. In fiscal 2021, Nexon Korea's revenue was 250.127 billion yen, down 6.2% year-on-year, and profit was 109.191 billion yen, down 13.9% year-on-year; Revenue of the China segment was 3.15 billion yen, up 3% year-on-year, and profit was 1.68 billion yen, down 11.2% year-on-year; Japan segment revenue was 5.042 billion yuan, an increase of 16.8% year-on-year, with a loss of 11.939 billion yen, further widening the loss compared with the loss of 4.338 billion yen in the same period last year. In addition, revenue in North America decreased year-on-year, but the loss side narrowed, while other regions saw a decline in revenue and widen losses.
Nexon Fiscal Year 2021 Results Image Source: Nexon Announcement
From the product side, Nexon's phenomenon of "eating the old" is serious.
Source of the article: Brokerage China