one of the most highly anticipated IPOs in South Korea this year, shares of online game developer Shift Up soared in their trading debut Thursday, making its founder and CEO, Kim Hyung-tae, a billionaire.
The company’s shares closed at 71,000 won on their first day of trading on the Korea Exchange, up 18% from the offering price. That gives Shift Up a valuation of around 4.1 trillion won , making it the fourth-biggest online gaming company listed in South Korea by market capitalization after Krafton, Netmarble and NCSoft.
Kim, 45, is the largest shareholder of Shift Up, with a 39% stake in his own name. His wife, Chae Ji-yoon, holds a nearly 0.5% stake in the company.Shift Up raised 435 billion won in an initial public offering of 7.25 million shares at 60,000 won apiece—the top of its indicative range.
Tencent, the world’s largest game publisher by revenue, is the second-biggest shareholder in Shift Up, after Kim. The Chinese company owns a 35% stake through Aceville, a Singapore-based subsidiary of Tencent’s cloud arm. Tencent is the distributor of Shift Up’sShift Up, based in Seoul’s upscale Gangnam neighborhood, was founded by Kim in 2013.
Shift Up’s Kim is the latest Korean billionaire to make a fortune from the online gaming sector. Others in the video game-obsessed country include Smilegate’s. The late Kim Jung-ju, founder of Nexon, was the wealthiest Korean gaming entrepreneur until his sudden death in 2022 at the age of 54. His wifeSouth Korea, home to the world’s fastest internet speeds, was one of the earliest developers of popular multiplayer online games.