South Korean Newspaper Reports Disney Was Pitched For Nexon Acquisition

According to the South Korean newspaper The Korea Herald, NXC's (Nexon's parent company) chairman, Kim Jung-ju, personally approached high level Disney executives about purchasing his company. NXC owns 47.02% of Nexon, but maintains business control of the company. NXC is basically a holding company that owns a large stake in Nexon and ownership of a few other smaller entities, such as 2 cryptocurrency exchanges. NXC is expected to fetch a cool $13.2B. The shortlist of other buyers include Kakao, MBK Partners, Netmarble, Tencent, and Bain Capital, but Disney holds a special place in Kim's heart:

“What I envy the most about Disney is that they do not force money out of kids ... (consumers) gladly pay Disney. Nexon has a long way to go. Some people hate Nexon to death,” Kim Jung-ju was quoted as saying in an anecdote in Nexon’s foundation story, “Play,” published in 2015. He was referring to the common practice of effectively requiring players to make in-game purchases.

Given that Disney recently made a huge $71.3B acquisition (21st Century Fox), I suspect they aren't going to be purchasing Nexon. Tencent is the most likely suitor, as they're also Nexon's Chinese publishing partner for Dungeon Fighter Online, the world's most successful PC MMORPG. We'll find out more soon, as final bids for NXC are due May 15th.