Nexon Korea headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province / Korea Instances file
The federal government is contemplating a plan to switch a large stake in recreation studio Nexon’s holding firm, NXC, to a Korean-style sovereign wealth fund being arrange by the Lee Jae Myung administration, in an obvious transfer to make use of the government-held stake for nationwide pursuits quite than promoting it to overseas capitals together with China’s Tencent.
In line with authorities officers, Monday, the federal government is exploring numerous fundraising choices for the proposed wealth fund value 20 trillion received ($13.67 billion), together with transferring government-held tax-accepted company shares into the fund as an funding in type.
Of them, the most important chunk would be the roughly 30 % stake of NXC valued at 4.7 trillion received. The federal government acquired the stake after the household of Nexon founder Kim Jung-ju transferred the shares as a part of their inheritance tax cost following his demise in 2022.
Up to now, the federal government has tried to promote the stake by means of 4 rounds of open bidding, however all failed because of the deal’s dimension and the truth that the stake doesn’t present management of the corporate. The remaining 70 % stake is totally owned by the founder’s household.
As a part of the plan, the federal government is anticipated to place NXC shares value 1 trillion received up on the market as a result of it has already included it on this 12 months’s nationwide finances, and switch the rest to the state wealth fund, based on the officers.
Contributing the NXC stake to the sovereign wealth fund is seen as a strategic transfer by the federal government, as Chinese language gaming big Tencent has lengthy been talked about as a possible bidder.
Even earlier than Kim’s demise, Tencent had tried to accumulate Nexon in 2019, forming a consortium with quite a few non-public equities. The Chinese language big sought to achieve direct management over Dungeon & Fighter, considered one of Nexon’s largest hit titles in China, quite than proceed paying licensing charges for the sport’s mental property (IP).
A promotion picture of Nexon’s Dungeon & Fighter / Courtesy of Nexon
In June 2025, Bloomberg reported that Tencent was reviewing a plan to accumulate Nexon for about $15 billion, though particulars of the deal construction, together with the particular goal and the dimensions of the stake, weren’t disclosed. On the time, Tencent denied the report, and Nexon additionally declined to remark.
Nevertheless, native media reported on Thursday that senior executives of Tencent had visited Nexon to discover a doable fairness acquisition.
Tencent is already the second-largest shareholder in quite a few Korea’s largest recreation builders, together with Netmarble, Krafton and Shift Up. Consequently, considerations have been rising that if the Chinese language tech big have been to accumulate a major stake in Nexon, Korea’s largest recreation firm, China’s affect over Korea’s gaming business would develop into extreme, successfully placing a lot of the sector below the sway of Chinese language capital.
It stays unclear whether or not Tencent is within the government-held stake in NXC or the shares owned by the founder’s household. Nevertheless, business officers view the federal government’s consideration of transferring its stake to a sovereign wealth fund as a sign that it’s cautious of a major Nexon stake falling into Chinese language capital.
“It’s onerous to foretell whether or not the founder’s household will promote their stake to Tencent, nevertheless it appears unlikely that the federal government would promote the stake it holds to Tencent,” an business official stated.
“The federal government has just lately tightened its guidelines on promoting state-owned belongings, requiring prior reporting to the Nationwide Meeting for belongings value greater than 30 billion received. Given the considerations over the home gaming business’s sovereignty, any such deal would doubtless set off a political controversy.”
