Kim Jung-ju, the billionaire founder of Korean on-line game developer Nexon Co. who contributed to establishing one of the world’s hottest gaming hubs, has died. He was 54.
Kim had acquired therapy for melancholy and lately his situation appeared to worsen, NXC Corp., his non-public funding agency, stated in a press release Tuesday, with out giving a trigger of loss of life. It stated he died at the “finish of final month” within the US.
Kim, who majored in pc science and engineering at Seoul National University, based Nexon in South Korea in 1994 and pioneered the use of “loot bins,” the place gamers buy digital merchandise.
Nexon’s PC and video video games had been performed by thousands and thousands of individuals globally, particularly massively multiplayer on-line role-playing video games – often known as MMORPGs.
In 2011, Nexon listed in Japan. Kim managed 47% of the corporate, which grew to become well-known by NXC for hit titles equivalent to MapleStory and KartRider.
He was price US$7.7bil (RM32.28), excluding shares pledged as collateral, in response to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Last yr, Nexon reported income of 274.5 billion yen (RM10bil).
Crypto Assets
In current years, his firm stepped up investing in crypto currencies and digital-asset exchanges. NXC purchased native crypto trade Korbit in 2017 and bought Europe-based digital-asset trade Bitstamp in 2018.
Nexon joined a rising checklist of corporations instantly investing in crypto with the acquisition of 1,717 Bitcoins in April final yr, at a mean worth of about US$58,226 (RM244,083) every.
In 2019, Kim thought-about promoting his stake within the firm he held by NXC, triggering discussions with main corporations together with Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Hillhouse Capital. He scrapped the plan when he couldn’t discover a appropriate purchaser.
Kim stepped again from operating NXC final yr and remained a director at the corporate.
Saudi Fund
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, purchased a 5% stake in Nexon in January as half of investments in gaming corporations.
Kim was born on Feb 22, 1968 in Seoul, the place he went to highschool, in response to the corporate.
He’s survived by his spouse, (*54*) Junghyun, who additionally owns shares in Nexon instantly and thru NXC. Local media says he has two daughters. The firm stated Kim’s relations had been “devastated.” – Bloomberg
