Nexon

NEXON Co., Ltd. produces, develops, and services PC online and mobile games. It operates through five segments: Japan, Korea, China, North America, and Others. The company's PC online game titles include MapleStory, Dungeon & Fighter, and EA SPORTS FIFA ONLINE 4. It offers approximately 50 live games in 190 countries. The company was formerly known as NEXON Japan Co., Ltd. and changed its name to NEXON Co., Ltd. in April 2009. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

Nexon Group was established in Seoul, South Korea on December 26, 1994, and is currently based in Japan. It also has offices located in South Korea, the United States, Taiwan and Thailand. Nexon developed and published its first title, Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds, in 1996, which the company continues to service. Many title releases followed such as Dark Ages: Online Roleplaying, Elemental Saga, QuizQuiz, KartRider, Elancia, and Shattered Galaxy; some of which are maintained by a company spun off of Nexon, Kru Interactive. In 2003, Wizet developed MapleStory in Korea, which later became one of their most successful titles and has been serviced for more than a decade. The game was localized in many locations such as Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, North America, Europe, Brazil, and Vietnam. Nexon is also the developer of Dungeon & Fighter, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Neople. Dungeon & Fighter is one of the most popular free-to-play online PC games in China.In April 2013, the programmer "DrUnKeN ChEeTaH" was sued by Nexon America for operating GameAnarchy, a popular subscription based cheat provider for Combat Arms. Nexon was awarded $1.4M in damages.Nexon went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on December 14, 2011, in an initial public offering, the largest in Japan for 2011 and the second largest by a technological company for 2011 worldwide.On March 9, 2016, Nexon acquired Big Huge Games, a mobile game developer in Maryland.On January 3, 2019, the Korea Economic Daily reported Nexon founder Kim Jung-ju and associates have put their 98.64-percent stake up for sale. However, on July 8, 2019, Reuters reported the plan was abandoned.On November 25, 2019, The Lego Group announced the acquisition of Bricklink, the world's largest Lego fan community from Nexon, for an unknown price, which is expected to finish before the end of 2019.On June 2, 2020, Nexon announced plans to invest $1.5 billion in listed entertainment companies. By March 2021, Nexon had deployed $874 million of that amount on investments into Hasbro, Bandai Namco Holdings, Konami, and Sega Sammy Holdings. Nexon stated that they have no interest in outright acquiring or taking activist investor positions in these companies.Nexon signed with Bandai Namco Holdings, Square Enix and Microsoft for a 10-year Japanese–South Korean video gaming partnership contract for media franchises through 2032, for example HoPals Echoes crossover project.Nexon, which was known to be the largest video game company in South Korea, was overtaken by Krafton in July 2021.In July 2021, Nexon announced the formation of Nexon Film and Television, a division of the company focused on expanding the reach and value of Nexon's global IP, as well as development of new properties in both interactive and linear entertainment. The division is based in Los Angeles.In January 2022, Russo brothers-owned film production company AGBO sold a $400 million minority stake to Nexon, which is valued at $1.1 billion as Nexon takes a 38% stake.In February 2022, it was reported by Bloomberg that Saudi Arabian-based Public Investment Fund had purchased just over a 5% stake in Capcom and Nexon, reportedly worth $883 USD million, while American investment company KKR acquired an 8.5% stake.