Disney reportedly favored by NXC Chairman Kim Jung-ju to own 98.64-percent majority stake in NXC, which happens to own majority of BitStamp and Kraken.
News of Disney being offered a controlling stake in NXC, the holding company of Nexon which is the largest game developer in South Korea, broke out April 17 through a Korea Herald report.
NXC Chairman Kim Jung-ju and his wife’s 98.64-percent majority stake in NXC has been for sale since January and has a projected price of $13.2 billion. This stake owns 47.02 percent of Nexon Japan, which owns Nexon Korea — the world’s second-largest online games publisher.
https://twitter.com/Nexon_Mobile/status/1100465543352586241
Should the $13.2 billion deal between NXC and Disney push through, Disney would be the new majority owners of the currently NXC-owned cryptocurrency exchanges Bitstamp and Korbit.
Bitstamp, which is a cryptocurrency exchange based in Luxembourg, began operating under the umbrella of NXC last year when NXC subsidiary NXMH acquired it. Bitstamp CEO Nejc Kodrič described the acquisition as “the next logical step” for Bitstamp’s growth.
Korbit, on the other hand, is South Korea’s first Bitcoin exchange and is now among the top cryptocurrency exchanges in the region. Like Bitstamp, Korbit was acquired by NXMH, placing the two platforms under the wings of NXC.
Disney, however, is not the lone bidder for the majority stake. Reports show Kakao, Tencent, MBK Partners with Netmarble, and Bain Capital as among the shortlisted bidders as of last month.
Many speculate though that Kim Jung-ju will favor Disney following his statement about the latter back in 2015:
“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.”
Following the completion of the Fox acquisition deal and the announcement of the new Disney Plus streaming service, the fate of Disney in the crypto world will unravel next month as the final bids reportedly will conclude on May 15.