PUBG Owner Set to Become a Billionaire After Game Company Goes Public in South Korea

June 23, 2021

Krafton Inc., the company behind PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), is set to turn its owner into a billionaire when it goes public next month.

“Winner, winner, chicken dinner”: Krafton founder Chang Byung-gyu, who holds 14% of the company’s shares, could be worth as much as $3.5 billion if initial public offering (IPO) prices stay at the top end of the company’s IPO filing’s range, reported Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

This IPO is shaping up to be South Korea’s largest ever, with Krafton aiming to garner as much as 5.6 trillion won ($4.9 billion).
Chang’s wife, Chung Seung-hye, also owns stock that could be worth as much as $206 million, while Krafton CEO Kim Chang-han’s stake could be worth as much as $336 million.
Tencent Holdings Ltd., which owns 13% of the company’s shares, could have an estimated $3.3 billion.
Chang pledged last month to donate stock worth as much as 100 billion won ($88.1 million) to Krafton employees to “deliver his appreciation to all members of the company who have contributed to Krafton’s growth.”

PUBG’s success: Chang founded Krafton in 2007 and developed PUBG with Krafton’s current CEO Kim and Irish game designer Brendan Greene in 2015, according to Venture Beat.

Greene, who previously created the ARMA 2 DayZ Battle Royale mod, was the game’s creative director.
Within three months of its Windows early access release in March 2017, PUBG exceeded $100 million in revenue.
According to a company filing, the PC and console versions of the game have sold more than 75 million copies as of March, as reported by Bloomberg.
The mobile version of PUBG is the world’s most downloaded game in more than 150 countries. Since its release in 2018, it has grossed over $4.3 billion as of December 2020.
Bloomberg stated that Krafton’s revenue hit 461 billion won ($406 million) in the first quarter, with about 94% of it coming from overseas.

Featured Image via Kristie Lu Stout (left), PUBG (right)

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